r*'*'  —    ■  '  **»  vij        \\«y^w, 


The  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts 


THE  PROBLEM  OF 

IMMIGRATION 

IN  MASSACHUSETTS 


W       COLLECTION 


APR1    1986 
ot  iviassachusett 


Oeposttory  Copy 


Report  of  the 
Commission  on  Immigration 

1914 


o 


HOUSE  No.  2300 


REPORT 


OF  THK 


COMMISSION  ON  IMMIGRATION 


ON 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  IMMIGRATION 
IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 


BOSTON: 

WRIGHT  &  POTTER  PRINTING  CO.,  STATE  PRINTERS, 

32  DERNE  STREET. 

1914. 


Massachtsetts  Commission  on  Immigration. 

BERNARD   J.  ROTHWELL,  Chairman,   ....  Boston. 

EMILY  G.  BALCH, Boston. 

FREDERIC  C.  McDUFFIE, Lawrence. 

WILLIAM  H.  O'BRIEN, Boston. 

FRANK  E.  SPAULDING, Newton. 


Grace  Abbott,  Executive  Secretary. 
Grace  Peloubet  Norton,  Statistician. 


<&\)t  tEommonroealtt}  of  ittaseactiueetts. 


Massachusetts  Acts  and  Resolves,  1913,  Chapter  77. 

Resolve  to  provide  for  the  Appointment  of  a  Commission  on 

Immigration. 

Resolved,  That  the  governor,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  council 
shall,  within  thirty  days  after  the  passage  of  this  resolve,  appoint  five 
persons,  citizens  of  the  commonwealth,  one  of  whom  shall  be  designated 
as  chairman,  who  shall  constitute  a  commission  on  immigration.  Said 
commission  shall  make  a  full  investigation  of  the  status  and  general  con- 
dition of  immigrants  within  the  commonwealth,  including  their  way  of 
living,  distribution,  occupation,  educational  opportunities  and  business 
opportunities  and  facilities,  and  also  their  relation  to  the  industrial, 
social  and  economic  condition  of  all  the  people  of  the  commonwealth. 
The  commission  is  further  authorized  to  procure  information  regarding 
such  laws  or  agencies  of  the  federal  government  and  of  other  state  gov- 
ernments as  affect  immigrants  after  their  admission  to  the  United 
States.  The  investigations  of  the  commission  shall  be  made  with  a 
view  to  obtaining  information  for  the  enactment  of  such  laws  as  will 
bring  non-English  speaking  foreigners,  resident  or  transient,  into  sym- 
pathetic relation  with  American  institutions  and  customs.  The  com- 
mission shall  be  provided  with  suitable  quarters  in  the  state  house  or 
elsewhere,  and  is  hereby  authorized  to  require  the  attendance  of  per- 
sons and  the  production  of  papers  respecting  all  matters  pertaining 
to  the  subject  of  their  inquiry.  The  members  of  the  commission  shall 
serve  without  compensation,  but  the  commission  may  employ  all  necessary 
clerical  or  other  assistance,  and  may  incur  such  other  reasonable  expenses, 
in  the  performance  of  its  duties,  including  travelling  expenses,  as  may  be 
approved  by  the  governor  and  council.  The  total  expense  to  be  incurred 
under  this  resolve  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars. 
The  commission  shall  report  its  findings,  together  with  any  recommenda- 
tions based  thereon,  in  print  to  the  general  court,  on  or  before  the  second 
Wednesday  of  January  in  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen.  [Ap- 
proved May  2,  1913. 


CONTENTS. 


Resolution  providing  for  the  appointment  of  a  commission  on  immigration, 
Letter  transmitting  to  the  Legislature  the  report  of  the  commission,   . 
Summary  of  the  recommendations  of  the  commission,     .... 

REPORT   OF   THE   COMMISSION. 


Ch. 


Part  I. 

I.     History  of  immigration  to  Massachusetts, 


m, 


Ch.       II.     Distribution,      ..... 
Sec.  1.  Private  employment  agencies, 
Sec.  2.  State  free  employment  agencies, 
Sec.  3.  U.  S.  Division  of  Information, 

Ch.     III.     The  housing  of  the  immigrant,    . 
Sec.  1.  General  statement, 

Sec.  2.  The  immigrant  girl  and  the  lodger  proble 
Sec.  3.  Non-family  groups  of  immigrant  men, 
Sec.  4.  Construction  camps,     . 
Sec.  5.  The  housing  of  cranberry  pickers, 

Ch.      IV.     The  occupations  of  the  recent  immigrant, 

Sec.  1.  In  industry,  .... 

Sec.  2.  In  agriculture,      .... 
Sec.  3.  In  business,  .... 

Ch.        V.     The  immigrant  and  the  public  morals, 

Sec.  1.  The  criminal  record  of  the  immigrant, 
Sec.  2.  The  immigrant  in  the  courts, 

(a)  Interpreters, 

(6)  Lawyers,    . 

Ch.      VI.     Education  and  the  immigrant, 
Sec.  1.  Public  schools, 

(a)  Day  schools, 

(6)  Evening  schools, 

(c)  Neighborhood  centers, 
Sec.  2.  Private  schools,   . 
Sec.  3.  Public  libraries,   . 

Ch.    VII.     Naturalization, 

Ch.  VIII.     Protection  against  abuses  and  frauds  to  which  the  immigrant 
is  peculiarly  liable,       .... 
Sec.  1.  Arrival  and  transit, 
Sec.  2.  Safeguarding  immigrant  savings,    . 
Sec.  3.  Notaries  public,  .... 

Ch.      IX.     The  immigrant  and  improved  medical  standards, 


PAGE 

5 

13 

15 

k 


25 

37 
38 
47 
52 

54 
54 
59 
64 
69 
73 

76 
76 
90 
97 

100 
100 
107 
107 
111 

114 
115 
115 
117 
146 
147 
151 

153 


162 
162 
175 
189 

192 


s 


CONTENTS. 


Ch.       X.     Dependency  among  immigrants,  . 

Ch.     XI.     The  foreign-language  press  and   organizations  for  self-help 
among  immigrants,      ..... 
Sec.  1.  The  foreign-language  press,  . 
Sec.  2.  Organizations  among  immigrants  for  self-help 

Ch.    XII.     Private  agencies  and  the  immigrant,    . 

Ch.  XIII.     A  State  immigration  policy,         .... 


PAGE 

197 

201 
201 
202 

208 

211 


Part  II. 

Proposed  Acts. 

An  Act  to  provide  for  the  education  and  employment  of  illiterate  and 
non-English  speaking  persons,         ..... 

An  Act  to  provide  that  the  Board  of  Education  shall  supervise  the  school 
attendance  and  employment  of  children, 

An  Act  in  regard  to  the  taking  of  the  school  census,  . 

An  Act  relative  to  court  interpreters,    ..... 

An  Act  concerning  State  free  employment  offices,  . 

An  Act  relative  to  the  office  of  public  defenders,    . 

An  Act  relative  to  persons,  partnerships,  associations  or  corporations  en- 
gaged in  the  business  of  foreign  exchange  and  of  receiving  money  on 
deposit,        ........... 

An  Act  relative  to  the  investment  of  deposits  taken  by  certain  persons, 
partnerships,  associations  or  corporations,      ..... 

An  Act  to  promote  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  relative  to  the  receiving 
of  money  for  transmission  to  foreign  countries  and  for  other  purposes, 

An  Act  relative  to  money  received  for  transmission  to  foreign  countiies, 

An  Act  to  establish  a  State  Board  of  Immigration,  .... 


217 

223 
225 
225 
226 

228 

228 

229 

232 
233 
233 


Part  III. 

Appendix. 

A.  Description  of  investigation, 

General  outline, 
Personal  history  schedules, 
School  investigation, 
Factory  schedules, 

B.  Schedules  used  in  the  investigation, 

Personal  history  schedule, 
School  schedules,   . 

C.  Tables  showing  immigration  to  Massachusetts, 

Immigrants  destined  to  Massachusetts,  1899-1913,  by  races  or 
peoples, 

Emigrants  from  Massachusetts,  1908-1913,  by  races  or  peoples, 

Immigrants  destined  to  Massachusetts,  1899-1912,  by  occupa- 
tions, .......... 

Number  of  immigrant  aliens  arrived  at  the  ports  of  Boston  and 
Charlestown,  1856-1913 


234 
234 
235 
244 
244 

253 
253 
256 

262 

262 
264 

265 

267 


CONTENTS.  9 


PAGE 

D.  Diagram    showing  number  of   immigrants    admitted   to   the  United 

States  destined  to  Massachusetts,  1890-1913,  ...  268 

E.  Tables  showing  occupations  of  foreign-born  persons  in  Massachusetts,  269 

Total  number  of  persons,  and  number  and  per  cent  of  foreign- 
born  persons,  engaged  in  gainful  occupations  in  Massachusetts 
in  each  class  of  occupation,  1870-1900,  ....  269 

Percentage  of  total  persons  and  of  foreign-born  persons  engaged 
in  gainful  occupations  in  Massachusetts  in  each  class  of  occu- 
pation, 1870-1900 270 

Total  number  of  persons,  and  number  and  per  cent  of  foreign- 
born  persons,  in  each  class  of  occupation  in  Massachusetts, 
1905, 270 

Total  persons  in  Massachusetts  in  each  class  of  occupation  dis- 
tributed according  to  parentage,  1900,  .  .  .  .  271 

F.  Table  showing  nationality  and  occupation  of  operatives  in  a  typical 

cotton  mill  in  Massachusetts,  January  1,  1913,  with  number 
employed  and  number  leaving  between  January  1,  1913,  and 
January  1,  1914 272 

G.  Table  showing  rural  population  of  Massachusetts  by  general  nativity, 

1890-1910 273 

H.    Tables  showing  nativity  of  persons  committed  to  the  State  training 

schools  in  Massachusetts,      .......  274 

Nativity  of  boys  and  girls  committed  to  the  State  training  schools 
of  Massachusetts  during  the  year  ended  November  30, 1912,      .  274 

Nativity  of  parents  of  boys  and  girls  committed  to  the  State 
training  schools  of  Massachusetts  during  the  year  ended  No- 
vember 30,  1912 274 

I.      Table  showing  literacy  of  prisoners  committed  to  penal  institutions 

in  Massachusetts  during  the  year  ended  November  30,  1912,  .  275 

J.      Tables  showing  nativity  of  insane  persons  in  institutions  in  Massa- 
chusetts,   ..........  276 

Number  and  per  cent  of  native  and  foreign-born  insane  persons 
admitted  to  institutions  in  Massachusetts  for  the  year  ended 
November  30,  1912,  together  with  the  per  cent  of  total  native 
and  foreign-born  white  population  fifteen  years  of  age  and 
over,  1910 276 

Nativity  of  foreign-born  insane  persons  admitted  to  institutions 
in  Massachusetts  for  the  year  ended  November  30,  1912,  to- 
gether with  the  percentage  of  nativity  of  the  total  foreign-born 
population  in  Massachusetts,  1910,        .....  277 

K.    Tables   showing  nativity  of    inmates   of   certain    State   institutions 

other  than  penal  and  insane,         ......  278 

Nativity  of  inmates  of  the  State  Infirmary  at  Tewksbury  for  the 

year  ended  November  30,  1912 278 

Nativity  of  epileptics  committed  (for  the  first  time  to  any  hospi- 
tal) to  the  Monson  State  Hospital  during  the  year  ended  No- 
vember 30,  1912 279 

Nativity  of  inebriates  committed  for  the  first  time  to  the  Fox- 
borough  Hospital  for  the  year  ended  November  30,  1912,  .  .  279 

Nativity  of  inmates  of  the  Massachusetts  School  for  the  Feeble- 
minded at  Waverley  on  October  30,  1913 280 

Nativity  of  parents  of  the  inmates  of  the  Wrenthum  State  School 

(for  the  feeble-minded),  November,  1913,       ....  281 


10  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

L.     Abstract  of  laws  regulating  employment  agencies,    ....  282 

M.    Abstract  of  laws  regulating  immigrant  banks,  ....  286 

X.    Circular  issued  by  a  steamship  ticket  agent  who  is  neither  an  author- 
ized banker  nor  a  notary  public,  ......  290 

O.     Letter  from  Vice-President  of  the  New  England  Steamship  Company,  291 

P.     Letter  from  district  commercial  superintendent  of  the  Western  Union 

Telegraph  Company,  ........  293 

Q.     Text  and  translation  of  Polish  and  Italian  paragraphs  which  inter- 
preters were  asked  to  translate,    ......  295 


LIST  OF   DIAGRAMS. 

Diagram  1.  —  Foreign-born  population  of  Massachusetts    from    English 

speaking  and  from  non-English  speaking  countries,  1850-1910,     .  30 

Diagram  2.  —  Foreign-born  population  of  Massachusetts  from  non-Eng- 
lish speaking  countries  by  country  of  birth,  1910,  ...  31 

Diagram  3.  —  Total  population   of   Massachusetts  from   1870   to    1910, 

and  percentage  of  population  of  foreign  birth  or  foreign  parentage,  35 

Diagram  4.  —  Number  of  native  and  foreign  born  persons  in  Massachu- 
setts engaged  in  manufacturing  and  mechanical  industries,  1870- 
1905 79 

Diagram  5.  —  Nationality  of  foreign-born  persons  engaged  in  manufactur- 
ing in  Massachusetts,  1890  and  1913,  .....  83 

Diagram  6.  —  Increase  in  one  year  in  number  of  non-English  speaking 
immigrants  over  fourteen  years  of  age  in  Massachusetts,  and 
in  number  of  pupils  enrolled  in  evening  schools,  .  .  .  .  121 

Diagram  7.  —  Number   of  immigrants  destined   to   Massachusetts  from 

1890  to  1913 268 


CONTENTS. 


11 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


built 


by  laborers  in 


Construction  camp  shanty  near  Boston, 

A  class  of  Syrian  girls, 

Exterior  and  interior  views  of  rude  kitchen 

struction  camp, 
Congestion  in  Lowell, 
Homes  of  Poles  in.Maynard, 
Has  Chelsea  forgotten  the  fire? 
Fall  River  bedrooms, 
A  block  in  Lowell, 

House  in  Worcester  occupied  by  "non-family  group," 
Room  used  by  a  "non-family  group"  of  ten  Turks, 
Cranberry  pickers, 

One  of  the  most  congested  districts 
Rear  view  of  a  typical  three-decker, 
An  evening  school  class  of  Greeks, 
A  class  of  illiterate  Italians, 
An  immigrant  bank,  . 
A  kitchen  toilet, 
A  Greek  coffee  house, 
Congestion  in  Lawrence,    . 
Bunk  houses  provided  for  cranberry  pickers, 
Tenements  on  the  canal  in  Lowell  on  edge  of  Greek  colony, 


in  Massachusetts 


PAGE 

Frontispiece 
16 


a  con- 


42 

54 

56 

56 

60 

60 

64 

68 

74 

88 

104 

128 

160 

176 

196 

204 

212 

74 

60 


<&\)t  €ommontoealtl)  of  Massachusetts. 


To  tlie  General  Court  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 

The  Commission  on  Immigration,  appointed  in  pursuance  of 
chapter  77,  Acts  and  Resolves  of  1913,  held  its  first  meeting  on 
June  6,  1913,  immediately  following  its  appointment.  Since 
then  the  commission  has  held  40  meetings;  it  has  also  held  13 
public  hearings  in  the  following  cities  and  towns:  Worcester, 
September  19  and  20;  Fall  River,  September  26;  New  Bedford, 
September  27;  Holyoke,  October  3;  Springfield,  October  4; 
Lowell,  October  10;  North  Adams,  October  17;  Lynn,  October 
24;  Maynard,  October  31;  and  Boston,  November  7,  10 
and  14.  The  commission  has  also  conferred  with  the  officers 
or  members  of  State  and  local  boards  of  health,  the  Board 
of  Labor  and  Industries,  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  with  police 
officials,  clergymen,  educators,  social  workers  and  with  rep- 
resentatives of  the  various  immigrant  groups.  It  has  made 
personal  inspections  of  foreign  neighborhoods,  and  has  em- 
ployed agents  to  make  the  investigations  described  in  the 
report  and  the  Appendix  thereto. 

The  commission  appointed  as  its  executive  secretary  Miss 
Grace  Abbott  of  Chicago,  Director  of  the  Immigrants'  Pro- 
tective League  of  that  city,  and  it  desires  to  express  herein  its 
appreciation  of  the  comprehensive  grasp,  sympathetic  under- 
standing, energetic  zeal,  and  loyal  co-operation  with  which  she 
has  fulfilled  her  arduous  duties. 

The  sum  of  $15,000  was  appropriated  for  the  work  of  the 
commission;  after  the  payment  of  some  few  outstanding  bills 
there  will  remain  an  unexpended  balance  of  approximately 
$2,500. 

The  problem  of  immigration  presents  two  fundamental  con- 
siderations —  the  welfare  of  the  State  and  the  welfare  of  the 
immigrant.     While  that  of  the  State  is  unquestionably  para- 


14  LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 

mount,  the  welfare  and  destiny  of  both  are  linked  inseparably. 
Throughout  its  investigations  and  its  report  the  attention  of 
this  commission  has  necessarily  been  focused  on  the  immigrant, 
but  the  nature  of  its  investigations  as  well  as  its  recommenda- 
tions have  been  determined  primarily  by  the  interests  of  the 
State. 

The  State  being  made  up  of  individual  units,  it  is  the  moral, 
intellectual  and  physical  stamina  of  these  units  that  determine 
its  character  and  stability.  Therefore  the  healthful  develop- 
ment of  these  units  is  of  supreme  importance  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Commonwealth.  The  State  must,  at  whatever  cost, 
prevent  the  lowering  of  its  moral,  mental  and  physical  stand- 
ards, —  the  inevitable  result  of  overwork,  underpay,  unregu- 
lated housing  in  overcrowded  tenements.  By  provision  and  en- 
forcement of  an  adequate  plan  of  education  it  must  dispel  the 
ignorance  which  begets  prejudice,  makes  the  uninformed  the 
victims  of  reckless  agitation,  and  substitutes  violence  for  con- 
stitutional methods  of  securing  redress.  If  the  State  is  un- 
willing to  meet  the  cost  of  thus  safeguarding  its  own  interests 
by  promoting  the  welfare  of  its  immigrant  population,  then  it 
is  not  difficult  to  forecast  the  overthrow  of  those  democratic 
institutions  which  are  the  result  of  patient,  persistent  struggle, 
century  after  century,  by  countless  thousands,  who  have  de- 
voted life  and  fortune  to  the  achievement  of  liberty  under  the 
law. 

A  summary  of  the  recommendations  of  the  commission,  based 
upon  its  hearings,  conferences  and  investigations,  together  with 
its  report  and  an  Appendix  to  the  same,  are  herewith  respect- 
fully submitted. 

BERNARD  J.   ROTHWELL,   Chairman. 
EMILY  G.  BALCH. 
FREDERIC  C.  McDUFFIE. 
WILLIAM  H.  O'BRIEN. 
FRANK  E.  SPAULDING. 

Boston,  March  21,  1914. 


SUMMARY   OF   THE   RECOMMENDATIONS  OF 

THE  COMMISSION. 


Education  (pp.  114-152). 
I.   Education  of  Immigrant  Children  under  Fourteen   Years  of 
Age  (pp.  115-117). 
The  commission  recommends  that  a  more  careful  adap- 
tation of  the  methods  of  teaching  and  of  the 
course  of  study  be  made  by  the  public  schools, 
in  order  that  the  immigrant  child  shall  not, 
through  his  Americanization,  lose  respect  for  his 
parents  and  for  the  traditions  which  they  revere. 
II.  Education  of  Immigrants  over  Fourteen  Years  of  Age  at  the 
Time  of  their  Arrival  (pp.  117-146). 
The  commission  recommends :  — 

1.  The  establishment  of  compulsory  half -day  schools  for 

illiterates,  between  fourteen  and  seventeen 
years  of  age,  in  all  cities  and  towns  in  which 
there  are  as  many  as  twenty  such  persons 
(pp.  126-128;   Bill,  pp.  217-223). 

2.  The  maintenance  of  evening  schools,  which  illiterate 

minors  between  seventeen  and  twenty-one 
years  of  age  shall  be  compelled  to  attend,  in  all 
cities  and  towns  in  which  there  are  as  many  as 
fifteen  such  persons  (pp.  117-146;  Bill,  pp.  217- 
223). 

3.  That  the  evening  schools  shall  be  maintained  at  least 

forty  weeks  each  year  (pp.  133-135). 

4.  For  the  better  enforcement  of  the  laws  requiring  the 

attendance  of  illiterate  minors  at  evening 
school :  — 

(a)  That  the  annual  school  census  shall  include  all 

persons  between  the  ages  of  five  and  twenty- 
one   (pp.  122,  124;  Bill,  p.  225). 

(b)  That  the  State  Board  of  Education  shall  secure 

from  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Immigration 
the  names  and  addresses  of  all  immigrants  be- 
tween five  and  twenty-one  years  of  age  destined 


16  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

to  Massachusetts,  and  that  these  be  dis- 
tributed to  the  local  attendance  officers  con- 
cerned (p.  124). 
(c)  That  the  State  Board  of  Education  shall  exercise 
such  supervision  over  the  enforcement  of  the 
compulsory  attendance  law  as  will  best  secure 
its  efficient  operation  (p.  124). 

5.  For  the  education  of  the  adult  immigrant  through  the 

public  schools :  — 

(a)  That  special  classes  in  English,  adapted  to  their 
needs,  age  and  previous  education,  shall  be 
provided  for  both  men  and  women  (pp.  128, 
129). 

(6)  That  lectures  in  the  various  foreign  languages 
shall  be  given  so  as  to  inform  the  immigrant 
about  labor  laws,  sanitary  regulations  and 
other  things  he  needs  to  know  immediately 
upon  his  arrival  (p.  135). 

6.  That   special  evening  classes  for  immigrants  in  labor 

camps  be  conducted  by  the  State  Board  of 
Education  (pp.  129,  130;    Bill,  pp.  217-223). 

7.  That    normal    schools    shall    maintain,    when   practi- 

cable, model  evening  schools  for  immigrants,  so 
that  experiments  may  be  conducted,  by  educa- 
tional experts,  in  the  neglected  field  of  adult 
education  (pp.  130-132). 

8.  That  the  State  Board  of  Education  shall  appoint  a 

deputy  commissioner  of  education,  and  such 
agents  as  may  be  necessary,  to  supervise  and 
direct  these  evening  and  part-time  classes  for 
immigrants  (pp.  145,  146,  220  (sec.  12);  Bill, 
pp.  217-223). 

9.  That  the  State  shall  pay  to  cities  and  towns  a  portion 

of  the  total  amount  expended  for  teaching  in 
such  evening  and  part-time  schools  upon 
their  approval  by  the  State  Board  of  Educa- 
tion. The  basis  on  which  such  reimbursement 
shall  be  made  shall  be  as  follows :  — 
When  the  amount  expended  for  the  support  of  the 
public  schools  is:  — 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  17 

(a)  Less  than  $4  for  every  $1,000  of  its  valuation 
the  reimbursement  shall  be  four-tenths  of  the 
cost  of  teaching. 

(6)  $4  to  $4.49,  the  reimbursement  shall  be  five- 
tenths  of  the  cost  of  teaching. 

(c)  $4.50  to  $4.99,  the  reimbursement  shall  be  six- 

tenths  of  the  cost  of  teaching. 

(d)  $5  and  over,  the  reimbursement  shall  be  seven- 

tenths  of  the  cost  of  teaching. 

III.  Neighborhood  Centers  (pp.  140  jf). 

The  commission  recommends  that  the  public  schools  in 
foreign  districts  shall  maintain  neighborhood 
centers,  to  offer  to  immigrant  and  other  children 
a  wholesome  substitute  for  dangerous  commer- 
cialized recreation,  and  to  the  older  immigrants 
recreation  and  fellowship,  as  well  as  assistance 
in  considering,  in  the  light  of  their  own  ex- 
perience, our  international,  national  and  munic- 
ipal problems  (pp.  146,  147). 

IV.  Private  Schools. 

Inasmuch  as  local  school  committees  have  failed  to  carry 
out  the  provisions  of  the  present  law  regarding 
the  approval  of  private  schools,  the  commission 
recommends  that  the  responsibility  for  such 
approval  be  vested  in  the  State  Board  of  Edu- 
cation (pp.  147-151;  Bill,  pp.  223-225). 
V.    Public  Libraries. 

A    larger    appropriation    for    the    Free    Public    Library 
Commission  is  recommended  in  order  that  it 
may  extend  the  travelling  foreign-library  feature 
of  its  work  (pp.  151,  152). 
Naturalization  (pp.  153-161). 

The  commission  recommends :  — 

1.  That  literacy  as  defined  in  the  Massachusetts  Statutes 

shall  be  the  minimum  educational  qualification 
for  the  exercise  of  suffrage  in  this  State. 

2.  That    an    investigation    be    made    by    the    proposed 

Board    of    Immigration    or    otherwise,    as    to 
whether  the  reduction  in  the  number  of  courts 


IS  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

of  naturalization  in  this  State  causes  needless 
hardship  to  immigrants  (p.  161,  also  pp.  154, 
155). 

3.  That  the  experiment  of  holding  Saturday  afternoon  and 

night  sessions  of  the  courts  of  naturalization 
shall  be  extended  (p.  161,  also  pp.  154,  155). 

4.  That   public   evening    schools    throughout   the   State 

shall  give  special  training  for  naturalization 
(pp.  157-161). 

5.  That  certificates  of  naturalization  shall  be  presented 

formally   and   with   a   ceremony   calculated   to 
impress  both  the  immigrant  and  the  American 
with  the  dignity  and  importance  of  citizenship 
(pp.  147,  160,  161). 
Distribution  (pp.  37-53). 

To  reduce  the  evils  of  unemployment  due  to  the  unin- 
telligent distribution  of  all  laborers,  but  es- 
pecially of  the  peculiarly  helpless  non-English 
speaking  immigrants,  and  to  protect  them  from 
fraud  and  misrepresentation,  the  commission 
recommends :  — 

1.  That   a   Bureau   of   Employment   shall   be   organized 

under  the  Board  of  Labor  and  Industries,  and 
that  the  supervision  of  the  present  State  free 
employment  offices  shall  be  transferred  to  this 
Bureau  (pp.  47-53;  Bill,  pp.  226,  227). 

2.  That   the   present   private   employment   agency   law 

shall  be  amended  along  the  lines  suggested 
in  the  body  of  this  report  (pp.  38-47). 
The  commission  further  expresses  its  approval  of  the 
recommendations  of  the  United  States  Secre- 
tary of  Labor  in  his  annual  report  (1914)  to 
Congress  to  the  effect:  — 

1.  That    the    present    Division    of    Information    in    the 

United  States  Bureau  of  Immigration  shall  be 
developed  into  a  national  labor  exchange 
(pp.  52,  53). 

2.  That    private    employment    agencies    engaged    in    an 

interstate  business  shall  be  licensed  and  super- 
vised by  the  United  States  (pp.  46,  47,  53). 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  19 

Agricultural  Opportunities  (pp.  90-97). 

In  order  that  those  immigrants,  many  of  them  farmers 
or  farm  laborers  in  Europe,  who  desire  to  be- 
come farmers  in  America  may  be  helped  to  ac- 
complish this  purpose,  the  commission  makes 
the  following  recommendations :  — 

1.  That  the  State  free  employment  agencies  shall  give 

more  attention  to  the  problem  of  bringing  to- 
gether the  man  who  wants  to  work  on  a  farm 
and  the  farmer  who  needs  his  help  (p.  92.) 

2.  That  a  scientific  "exploration"  of  its  farm  lands  shall 

be  made  by  the  Commonwealth  in  order  that 
reliable  information  may  be  available  for  pro- 
spective purchasers,  whether  native  or  foreign 
born  (p.  96). 

3.  That  a  specially  qualified  person  be  employed  in  the 

proposed  State  Board  of  Immigration  to  ad- 
vise and  assist  the  immigrant  who  desires  to 
purchase  farm  land  (pp.  97,  215). 
The  Improvement  of  Housing  Conditions  of  the  Immigrant. 
(pp.  54-75). 
1.  The  commission  recommends  that  the  standard 
housing  laws  recommended  to  cities  and  towns 
by  the  State  Legislatures  of  1911  and  1912 
shall  be  made  compulsory,  and  that  a  perma- 
nent State  Housing  Commissioner  shall  super- 
vise the  enforcement  of  these  laws  (p.  57). 
2.  Inasmuch  as  the  lodging  of  young  immigrant  girls 
and  single  immigrant  men  within  the  same 
household  constitutes  a  serious  moral  menace, 
and  as  the  present  conditions  under  which 
"non-family  groups"  of  men  are  now  living  are 
even  more  dangerous,  the  commission  regrets 
that  no  constructive  program  has  ever  been 
presented  for  the  housing  of  such  young  people. 
While  municipally  provided  lodging  houses 
seem  to  be  the  ultimate  solution  of  these 
difficulties,  practical  philanthropists  might  mean- 
while render  a  great  service  by  assisting  in  the 
determination    of    the    best    type    of    lodging 


20  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

houses  and  the  arrangements  that  can  most 
successfully  be  made  for  different  national 
groups  (pp.  58-69). 
3.  The  commission  recommends  that  the  sanitary  ar- 
rangements in  temporary  camps  where  con- 
struction workers  and  other  seasonal  laborers 
are  housed  shall  be  approved  by  the  State 
Board  of  Health  before  such  camps  can  be  oc- 
cupied, and  that  frequent  inspections  there- 
after shall  be  made,  so  long  as  they  are  in  use 
(pp.  69-75). 
Regulation  of  the  Practice  of  Medicine  (pp.  192-196). 

1.  Inasmuch  as  the  immigrant  has  no  sources  of  infor- 

mation which  enable  him  to  distinguish  the 
trained  from  the  untrained  and  often  un- 
scrupulous practitioners,  and  therefore  suffers 
even  more  than  the  native  American  at  their 
hands,  the  commission  recommends  that  the 
requirements  for  medical  registration  in  Massa- 
chusetts shall  be  raised. 

2.  It    further    recommends    that    the    State    Board    of 

Medical  Registration  shall  work  out  some  plan 
by  which  the  large  and  rapidly  increasing 
number  of  women  who  use  midwives  may  be 
protected  against  those  absolutely  untrained 
and  irresponsible  ones  whose  practice,  although 
contrary  to  law,  is  generally  tolerated  in  the 
cities  and  towns  of  the  State  (pp.  193-196). 
Prevention  of  Crime  among  Immigrants  (pp.  103-107). 

1.  The  commission  recommends  to  police  authorities  and 

private  agencies  interested  in  the  prevention  of 
crime  that  adequate  consideration  be  given  the 
various  social  and  psychological  characteristics 
of  the  different  national  groups  (pp.  104  ff). 

2.  For    the    prevention    of     crimes    of    violence    which 

are  more  frequent  among  the  foreign  than 
among  the  native-born,  the  commission  ur- 
gently recommends  that  the  sale  of  firearms 
and  other  dangerous  weapons  shall  be  regu- 
lated stringently  (p.  106). 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  21 

3.  Inasmuch  as  ignorance  of  sanitary  regulations  is  re- 
sponsible for  many  of  the  offenses  of  immi- 
grants, the  commission  recommends  that  the 
State  Board  of  Health  shall  prepare  and  furnish 
to  local  boards  of  health  leaflets  and  illustrated 
lectures  in  the  various  foreign  languages  for 
the  education  of  non-English  speaking  people 
(p.  105). 

Official  Court  Interpreters. 

Inasmuch  as  in  all  cases  in  which  a  non-English  speaking 
immigrant  is  concerned  the  honesty,  com- 
petency and  disinterestedness  of  the  interpreter 
is  absolutely  essential  to  the  administration  of 
justice,  this  commission  recommends  that  those 
courts  in  which  such  interpreters  are  needed 
shall  be  authorized  to  appoint  official  interpre- 
ters on  yearly  salaries,  and  that  the  Civil  Serv- 
ice Commission  shall  be  directed  to  prepare 
eligible  lists  from  which  such  appointments 
may  be  made  (pp.  107-111;    Bill,  p.  225). 

Public  Defenders. 

In  order  that  the  immigrant,  whose  ignorance  of  English 
places  him  so  peculiarly  at  the  mercy  of  shyster 
lawyers,  may  be  insured  the  fair  trial  which  our 
law  intends,  it  is  recommended  that  the  State 
shall  provide  attorneys  for  the  defence  or 
" public  defenders"  (pp.  Ill,  112;  Bill,  p.  228). 

Protection  of  Immigrant  Savings. 

To  provide  greater  security  for  the  savings  which  are 
deposited  with  so-called  "immigrant  bankers''" 
for  safe-keeping  or  for  transmission  abroad, 
the  commission  recommends  the  following 
modifications  of  the  present  law  which  regu- 
lates persons  or  corporations  who  combine  with 
a  banking  business  the  selling  of  steamship 
tickets  or  the  supplying  of  laborers:  — 
1.  That  all  those  who  do  a  foreign  exchange  business  or 
who  receive  money  for  safe-keeping  shall,  with 
certain  exceptions  such  as   legally  incorporated 


22  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

banks,  trust  companies,  etc.,  be  included  in  the 
law. 

2.  That  the  investment  of  deposits  shall  be  regulated. 

3.  That  the  minimum  penalty  of  the  bond  required  shall 

be  $10,000. 

4.  That  the  Commissioner  of  Banking,  as  well  as  the 

local  police  authorities,  shall  be  charged  with 
the  enforcement  of  the  law,  and  the  commis- 
sioner or  his  deputy  shall  also  be  given  au- 
thority to  examine  the  books  of  all  unlicensed 
steamship  agents  or  others  suspected  of  its 
violation. 

5.  That  the  Commissioner  of  Banking  shall  be  given  the 

right  to  ask  for  an  injunction  and  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  receiver  for  any  unlicensed 
agency  found  to  be  doing  a  banking  business. 

6.  That  money  accepted  for  transmission  shall  be  for- 

warded within  five  days  after  it  is  received. 

7.  That  in  case  of  action  for  failure  to  forward  money 

left  for  transmission,  the  burden  of  proof  that 
the  money  was  sent  should  rest  on  the  licensee 
(pp.  174-233;    Bills,  pp.  228-233). 
Notaries  Public. 

The  commission  recommends  that  the  Civil  Service 
Commission  be  authorized  to  prepare,  upon  re- 
quest by  the  Governor,  an  eligible  list  from 
which  the  Governor  may  appoint  notaries 
public  (pp.  189-191). 

A  State  Board  of  Immigration. 

The  commission  is  directed,  by  the  resolution  creating 
it,  to  recommend  such  laws  as  its  investigations 
indicate  are  needed  to  bring  the  immigrant 
"  into  sympathetic  relations  with  American  insti- 
tutions and  customs."  The  foregoing  recom- 
mendations have  been  made  in  the  belief  that 
education,  protection  against  exploitation,  pro- 
vision for  better  living  and  working  conditions, 
and  the  adjustment  of  our  legal  machinery  so 
that  the  immigrant  may  enjoy,  with  the  Ameri- 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  23 

can,  the  equal  protection  of  the  law,  are  neces- 
sary for  the  accomplishment  of  this  end.  The 
commission  has  endeavored  to  assign  to  existing 
boards  or  departments  those  services  which  it 
believes  that  the  Commonwealth,  for  its  own 
future  welfare,  must  undertake  to  perform  for 
the  immigrant.  But,  in  addition,  it  finds  that 
there  still  remain  other  most  important  services 
that  cannot  properly  be  provided  for  through 
existing  boards  or  departments.  These,  it  rec- 
ommends, shall  be  undertaken  by  a  permanent 
State  Board  of  Immigration  of  five  unpaid  mem- 
bers, appointed  by  the  Governor,  and  that 
among  its  duties  shall  be  the  following:  — 

1.  The  maintenance  of  a  central  office,  and  such  branch 

offices  as  the  population  of  the  State  may  ne- 
cessitate, to  which  immigrants  shall  be  en- 
couraged to  go  for  disinterested  advice  and  in- 
formation. 

2.  Special  oversight  over  the  conditions  surrounding  the 

arrival  and  release  of  immigrants  and  their 
journey  from  the  port  of  arrival  to  their  destina- 
tion. 

3.  The  establishment  of  a  clearing  house  of  information 

useful  to  the  immigrant,  so  that  the  civic, 
social  and  philanthropic  resources  of  the  com- 
munity may  be  made  available  to  him. 

4.  The  investigation  of  complaints  of  exploitation  with  a 

view  to  their  adjustment,  and  the  recommenda- 
tion of  measures  by  which  those  frauds  of 
which  the  immigrant  is  peculiarly  a  victim 
may  be  prevented. 

5.  The   accumulation   of   information   in   regard   to   the 

immigrant  population  of  Massachusetts,  so  that 
expert  advice  may  be  at  the  disposal  of  in- 
terested public  and  private  agencies. 
0.  The  provision  of  a  special  agent  competent  to  give 
trustworthy  advice  to  those  desiring  to  settle 
on  farina. 


24  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

7.  The  reference,  with  suggestions,  to  the  proper  State 
agencies,  of  all  matters  coming  within  the  scope 
of  the  particular  agency  to  which  assignment  is 
made,  and  co-operation  with  such  agency  in  the 
solution  of  the  problem  involved  (pp.  211-216; 
Bill,  p.  233). 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  25 


PART  I. 


CHAPTER  I. 
HISTORY  OF  IMMIGRATION  TO  MASSACHUSETTS. 
During  the  Colonial  Period. 

During  the  seventeenth  and  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  the  Dutch,  Scandinavians,  Swiss,  Germans  and 
French  were  settling  in  the  central  and  southern  colonies,  Mas- 
sachusetts was  struggling  by  means  of  legislation  to  maintain 
its  Puritan  Commonwealth.  If  this  was  to  be  done,  every 
stranger  must  be  regarded  with  suspicion  and  distrust.  So  we 
find  the  General  Court  in  1637  ordering  that  no  town  or  person 
in  the  colony  should  receive  or  entertain  any  newcomer  for 
longer  than  three  weeks  without  permission  of  the  authorities.1 
The  severe  laws  passed  after  1656  were  designed  to  prevent,  by 
whippings,  imprisonment,  banishment  and  even  hanging,  the 
coming  of  the  Quakers.  These  laws  and  the  laws  against  the 
French  Jesuits  undoubtedly  kept  out  not  only  many  Quakers, 
but  other  Protestants  from  Great  Britain  and  Western  Europe, 
and  Catholic  laymen  from  Ireland  and  the  Continent.  Liberal- 
ism did  grow,  however,  although  slowly,  and  in  1682  the  Gen- 
eral Court  granted  land  and  special  privileges  to  a  small  colony 
of  French  Huguenot  refugees,  and  in  1730,  because  of  their 
good  behavior,  an  act  was  passed  naturalizing  these  French 
Protestants. 

In  1754,  when  Massachusetts  had  begun  to  look  with  some 
jealousy  at  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  Pennsylvania,  Dr. 
Jonathan  Mayhew,  in  his  election  sermon  before  the  Governor 
and  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  urged  that  the  English  ele- 
ment being  now  well  established  in  Massachusetts,  the  immigra- 
tion of  foreign  Protestants  might  be  encouraged.2 

1  Records  of  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  Vol.  I,  p.  196,  quoted  in  Proper,  E.  E.,  "Colonial  Immigra- 
tion Laws,"  Columbia  University  Studies  in  History,  Economics  and  Public  Law,  Vol.  XII,  No.  2, 
p.  23. 

2  Massachusetts  Election  Sermons,  1754,  pp.  30,  48,  referred  to  in  Fairchihi,  II.  l\.  Immigration, 
p.  46. 


26  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

During  even  this  early  period  there  was  much  fear  of  the 
immigration  of  paupers;  and  in  1700,  after  the  union  of  the 
two  Massachusetts  colonies,  a  comprehensive  law  designed  to 
protect  the  towns  from  the  care  of  the  indigent  was  passed. 
This  provided  that  "no  lame,  impotent  or  infirm  persons" 
should  be  admitted  unless  the  town  was  given  security  that 
they  would  not  become  public  charges.  If  unable  to  furnish 
such  security  they  were  to  be  deported  in  the  vessel  in  which 
they  came.1  This  law  was  felt  to  be  a  little  too  stringent  and 
was  modified  in  1722, 2  and  finally  in  1756  the  sick,  impotent 
and  lame  were  prohibited  from  landing  unless  permitted  by  the 
selectmen  of  the  town  on  security  from  the  master  of  the 
vessel.3 

However,  as  Proper  points  out,  these  laws  "were  perhaps  less 
effective  as  barriers  to  foreign  immigration  than  the  rigor  and 
harshness  of  Puritan  legislation  along  other  lines.  Puritanism 
in  New  England  was  too  austere,  too  painfully  conscientious 
and  moral  to  attract  many  settlers;  while  her  sumptuary  laws 
and  barbarous  punishments  were  repellent  even  to  the  persecuted 
peasant  of  Continental  Europe."4 

Since  Independence. 

Whether  or  not  it  was  the  scanty  soil  and  rigorous  climate 
or  the  intolerance  of  the  Puritan  that  sent  the  stream  of  immi- 
grants of  the  eighteenth  century  to  Pennsylvania  and  to  the 
southern  States,  Massachusetts,  at  any  rate,  began  her  history 
as  a  State  with  much  less  racial  mixture  than  most  of  the  other 
States. 

By  1790  the  nationality,  or  racial  stock,  of  the  white  popula- 
tion as  indicated  by  the  name  of  the  head  of  the  family  was  as 
follows:  5  — 

1  Acts  and  Resolves  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  I,  452,  quoted  in  Proper,  p.  29. 
-  Idem,  II,  244,  Proper,  p.  30. 

3  Idem,  III,  982,  Proper,  p.  30. 
1  Proper,  p.  37. 

4  A   Century  of  Population   Grouth,   179G-1900,    U.  S.  Bureau   of   the  Census,    1909,  p.   116 
TaMe  45. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  — No.  2300. 


27 


Table  1.  —  Nationality  of  White  Population  of  Massachusetts  in  1790. 


X. 

lTIONAUTY. 

Number. 

Per  Cent. 

English, 

354,528 

95.0 

Scotch , 

13,435 

3.6 

Irish,    . 

3,732 

1.0 

French, 

746 

.2 

Dutch, 

373 

.1 

German, 

75 

_i 

Jewish , 

67 

_i 

All  others, 

231 

.1 

Total, 

373,187 

100.0 

As  a  result  of  the  growing  spirit  of  liberalism  and  the  eco- 
nomic and  political  pressure  in  Europe,  immigration  to  Massa- 
chusetts increased  greatly  during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  The  nativity  of  the  population  was  not  reported  in 
the  United  States  Census  until  1850.  During  the  fifteen  years 
preceding  that  date  immigration  had  provoked  much  bitter 
discussion  which  led  to  some  political  success  for  the  Native 
American  and  Know  Nothing  movement  in  Massachusetts. 


State  Regulation  of  the  Admission  of  Immigrants. 

In  so  far  as  the  anti-immigration  movement  did  not  have  its 
origin  in  the  narrowest  religious  and  race  prejudice,  it  was 
caused  by  the  belief  that  "undesirables"  were  coming  to  the 
United  States  in  large  numbers.  There  were  no  federal  restric- 
tions on  the  admission  of  immigrants  at  that  time,  and  evidence 
was  not  lacking  in  support  of  the  belief  that  England  especially, 
and  other  Western  European  States,  were  paying  the  passage 
of  their  pauper,  insane  and  criminal  classes  to  the  United 
States.  In  1837  the  old  colonial  legislation  was  replaced  by  a 
law  requiring  the  steamship  companies  to  furnish  bonds  in  the 
sum  of  SI, 000  for  every  insane,  feeble-minded,  aged  or  infirm 
person  admitted,  conditional  that  such  person  should  not  become 
a  public  charge  within  ten  years.  A  $2  head  tax  to  be  used  for 
the  support  of  foreign  paupers  was  also  imposed.2 

1  I.<^-<  than  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent. 

Lmm  of  Massachusetts,  1837,  eh.  288,  p.  870. 


IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

This  act  and  a  similar  one  passed  in  New  York  were  de- 
clared unconstitutional  by  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 
in  1849, x  on  the  ground  that  the  head  tax  constituted  a  regula- 
tion of  foreign  commerce.  The  Massachusetts  law  had  been 
changed  before  this  decision  was  rendered  and  was  amended 
several  times  subsequent  to  it.  The  head  tax  was  dropped,  the 
administrative  machinery  strengthened,  and  the  deaf  and 
dumb,  the  blind  and  deformed  were  added  to  the  lists  of  those 
who  were  admitted  only  on  bond.2  But  the  legislation  failed 
to  accomplish  its  purpose.  Boston,  ranking  fifth  in  the  number 
of  arrivals  in  1820  and  third  in  I860,3  was  not  the  important 
port  that  it  now  is.4  As  a  result,  in  those  days  even  more  than 
at  present,  immigration  to  Massachusetts  did  not  all  come  by 
way  of  Boston  and  New  Bedford.  Massachusetts  itself,  and 
other  States  that  had  passed  similar  legislation,  showed  little 
concern  about  the  insane  and  the  paupers  so  long  as  they  were 
destined  to  cities  and  towns  outside  their  own  borders.  There- 
fore protection  against  these  classes  was  entirely  inadequate 
until  in  1882  the  control  of  the  admission  or  exclusion  of  immi- 
grants, and  in  1891  the  administrative  enforcement  of  that 
control,  were  taken  over  by  the  federal  government.5 

Changed  Character  of  the  Immigration. 

Long  before  this  regulation  of  immigration  was  undertaken  by 
the  federal  government  the  immigration  to  Massachusetts  had 
undergone  great  changes  in  numbers  and  in  nationality.  By 
1850,  the  first  year  for  which  these  figures  are  available,  16.5 
per  cent  of  the  State's  population  was  foreign-born,  while 
only  9.7  per  cent  of  the  entire  population  of  the  United 
States  was  foreign-born.  Since  1850  this  per  cent  has  steadily 
increased,  as  the  following  table  shows :  — 

■  7  Howard,  283. 

2  State  legislation  on  the  subject  of  immigration  is  collected  in  the  Reports  of  the  U .  S.  Immigra- 
tion Commission,  Vol.  39,  pp.  487-956;   Massachusetts  Legislation,  pp.  691-707. 

3  U.  8.  Eighth  Census  (1860),  Population,  p.  xxiii. 

4  See  Appendix  C  for  number  of  arrivals  at  the  port  of  Boston  from  1856  to  1913. 

*  For  a  history  of  federal  immigration  legislation,  see  Reports  of  the  U .  S.  Immigration  Commit- 
sion,  Vol.  31*,  pp.  1-144. 


1914.1 


HOUSE  —  Xo.  2300. 


29 


Table   2.  —  Per  Cent  of  Foreign-born  in  Total  Population  of  Massachu- 
setts and  of  the  United  Slates,  1850  to  1910. l 


Massachusetts. 

United  States. 

1850 

16.5 

9.7 

1860,          

21.1 

13.2 

1870,          

24.2 

14.4 

1880,          

24.9 

13.3 

1890,          

29.4 

14.8 

1900,          

30.2 

13.7 

1910, 

31.5 

14.7 

The  changes  in  the  constituent  elements  of  its  foreign-born 
population  have  been  even  more  marked.  These  changes  are 
shown  in  the  following  table,  which  gives  the  nativity  of  the 
foreign-born  population  of  Massachusetts  by  decades  since 
1850. 


Table  3.  —  Foreign-born  Population  of  Massachusetts  by  Country  of  Birth 

1850  to  1910. 2 


1850. 

1860. 

1870. 

1880. 

1890. 

1900. 

1910. 

Ireland, 

115,917 

185,434 

216,120 

226,700 

259,902 

249,916 

222,867 

England, 

16,685 

23,848 

34,099 

47,263 

76,400 

82,346 

92,658 

Scotland, 

4,469 

6,855 

9,003 

12,507 

21,909 

24,332 

28,416 

Wales, 

214 

320 

576 

873 

1,527 

1,680 

1,513 

Canada,3 

15,862 

27,069 

70,055 

119,302 

111,315 

158,753 

162,710 

Canada  French, 

- 

- 

- 

- 

96,286 

134,416 

134,659 

Atlantic  Islands, 

- 

433 

1,944 

2,421 

4,973 

4,432 

«  11,128 

Austria,6 

10 

- 

365 

587 

1,729 

12,931 

35,455 

Finland,  . 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

5,104 

10,744 

France,    . 

805 

1,280 

1,629 

2,212 

3,273 

3,905 

5,926 

Germany, 

4,417 

9,961 

13,072 

16,872 

28,034 

32,927 

30,555 

Greece,     . 

23 

25 

24 

41 

59 

1,843 

11.413 

Holland, 

138 

351 

480 

586 

609 

993 

1,597 

Hungary, 

- 

- 

14 

82 

389 

926 

1,996 

Italv, 

196 

371 

454 

2,116 

8,066 

28,785 

85,056 

Poland,' 

- 

81 

272 

681 

3,341 

849 

- 

Portugal, 

290 

988 

735 

1,161 

3,051 

13,453 

26,437 

Russia,     , 

38 

61 

154 

462 

7,325 

37,919 

117,261 

Sweden,  Norway  and  Denmark,    . 

503 

1,069 

1,955 

5,971 

22,655 

37,997 

48,399 

Turkey,   . 

14 

16 

50 

102 

310 

16,138 

Others, 

1,328 

1,952 

2,313 

3,552 

5,984 

14,317 

Total 

160,909 

260,114 

353,319 

443,491 

657,137 

846,324 

1,0511,245 

1  Compiled  from  the  U.  S.  Census  1850  to  1910 . 

*  Ibid. 

3  Canada  French,  not  distinguished  from  Canada  English  until  1890. 

*  White  population  only. 
5  Includes  Bohemia. 

*  Distributed  under  Austria,  Germany  and  Russia  in  1910,  and  -Me  in  1900. 


30 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


According  to  this  table  the  English-speaking  group  now  forms 
a  smaller  proportion  of  the  foreign-born  population  of  the 
State,  and  in  the  case  of  the  Irish,  the  most  important  numeri- 
cally, there  has  been  an  actual  numerical  decrease  since  1890. 
The  numbers  of  the  Germans  and  of  the  Welsh  have  also  de- 
creased since  1900.  There  was  a  great  increase  in  the  Scandi- 
navian population  between  1870  and  1890,  but  since  that  time 
the  increase  has  been  less  marked. 


^LyvJJVnsYv   s^ea-Kvcv^   cowofcrxes 


J 


Hor\ 


1850 


ISfeO 


1870 


1880 


18^0 


noo 


i<no 


]   153.147 


|  7762 


]  243.52 S 


16.588 


329.853 


23,466 


J    46.645 


36.846 


471.053 


186.084 


329.297 


j  517,027 

508.164 

551.081 


Diagram   1.  —  Foreign-born  population  of  Massachusetts  from  English-speaking  and 
from  non-English  speaking  countries. 


But  the  striking  change  has  been  the  increase  in  those  who 
come  from  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe.  In  1850  there  were 
only  38  people  in  the  State  who  were  born  in  Russia;  in  1910 
there  were  117,261;  in  1850  there  were  196  from  Italy,  in  1910, 
85,056;    in  1850,  10  came  from  Austria,  in  1910,  35,455.     The 


1914.] 


HOUSE  — No.  2300. 


31 


preceding  diagram  shows  the  relative  number  of  the  foreign- 
born  population  of  Massachusetts  who  came  from  Engli>li- 
speaking  countries  and  those  who  came  from  non-English 
speaking  countries  from  1850  to  1910. 

In  sixty  years,  then,  the  immigration  of  the  non-English 
speaking  races  of  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe  has  increased 
from  absolute  insignificance  to  the  important  place  that  it  now 
occupies.  The  countries  from  which  these  non-English  speaking 
elements   come   are   shown   by   the   following   diagram. 


Diagram  2.  —  Foreign-born  population  of  Massachusetts  from 
non-English  speaking  countries  by  country  of  birth,  1910. 


The  Causes  of  Immigration. 

Although  much  has  been  said  about  the  changed  causes  of  the 
present  immigration  to  the  United  States,  the  causes  that  sent 
immigrants  fifty  or  two  hundred  years  ago  are  also  respon- 
sible for  their  coming  to-day.  The  economic  injustices  of  a 
dominant  race  are,  according  to  Professor  Commons,  driving  to 
emigration  the  Slav  in  Austria-Hungary,  the  Jew,  the  Finn, 
the  German  in  Russia,  the  Armenian  and  the  Syrian  in  Tur- 
key.1 Most  of  us  would  add  to  this  list  the  Lithuanian  of 
Russia,  and  would  agree  that  in  the  case  of  the  Jews  in  both 

1  Commons,  J.  R.,  Races  and  Immigrants  in  America,  p.  65. 


32 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Roumania  and  Russia,  and  of  the  Syrians  and  Armenians  in 
Turkey,  it  is  religious  persecution  manifesting  itself  in  other  than 
"  economic  injustices  "  which  sends  them  to  America.  Polit- 
ical and  racial  antipathy  still  exiles  the  Pole,  the  Ruthenian 
and  the  Slovak  from  Russia,  Austria  and  Hungary,  and  is 
likely  to  send  many  from  the  Balkan  States  during  the  next 
few  years.  The  South  Italian  suffers  from  a  landlord  system 
not  unlike  the  one  from  which  the  Irish  escaped  to  America. 
The  English  and  the  Canadian  immigrants  who  came  to  work 
in  the  mills  in  such  large  numbers  during  the  nineteenth 
century;  the  Germans  who  came  after  the  severe  winter  and 
the  spring  floods  in  1845;  the  Scandinavians  who  had  "  no 
chance  "  because  with  the  small  amount  of  available  land  and 
with  the  lack  of  diversified  industries,  few  opportunities  were 
offered  an  expanding  population,  —  all  these  came  to  the 
United  States  from  the  same  economic  motives  that  have  sent 
the  peasants  of  Italy,  Austria-Hungary,  Greece  and  Russia  in 
recent  years.  Austria-Hungary,  like  Germany  in  the  seventies, 
was  much  disturbed  during  the  autumn  of  1913  by  the  emigra- 
tion of  so  many  men  whose  military  service  was  not  completed. 
The  fact  that  these  same  economic  and  political  reasons  that 
brought  the  earlier  immigrants  are  still  operative  is  shown  by 
the  personal  histories  obtained  from  immigrants  in  the  course  of 
the  investigations  carried  on  by  the  commission.1  The  following 
table,  giving  the  immigrants'  statements  of  their  reasons  for 
coming  to  this  country,  shows  that  67  per  cent  of  them  came 
in  the  hope  of  finding  better  industrial  conditions,  and  11  per 
cent  to  escape  from  political  oppression  or  to  avoid  military 
service. 


Table  4.  —  Reasons  given  by  1,217  Immigrants  for  coming  to  this  Country. 


Number  of 
Immigrants. 

Per  Cent. 

To  find  better  industrial  conditions, 

To  be  with  relatives  or  friends,  ....... 

To  escape  military  service,          ....... 

To  avoid  political  oppression,     ....... 

To  see  the  country, 

Miscellaneous  reasons, 

819 
175 
85 
54 
71 
13 

67  4 
14  4 
7.0 
4.4 
5.8 
1.0 

Total 

1.2172 

100.0 

1  See  Appendix  A. 

2  Seven  immigrants  from  whom  schedules  were  obtained  did  not  give  their  reasons  for  coming 
to  this  country. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  33 

Unchecked  by  legislation  in  this  country  or  in  Europe,  steam- 
ship companies  formerly  urged  the  relatives  who  were  already 
here  to  send  for  those  at  home,  and  lured  peasants  into  under- 
taking the  journey.  To-day  this  is  illegal,  and,  although  the 
law  is  difficult  of  enforcement,  there  are  occasional  arrests  and 
convictions. 

Contract  labor  was  also  on  an  absolutely  different  basis  dur- 
ing this  earlier  period.  Not  only  was  the  bringing  of  laborers 
into  the  United  States  under  contract  not  prohibited,  but  for 
several  years  after  the  civil  war  contracts  made  in  Europe  in 
which  the  immigrant  pledged  his  wages  for  twelve  months  to  re- 
pay the  expenses  of  his  passage  to  employers,  padrones  and 
steamship  agencies  were  enforceable  in  the  courts.1 

The  settlement  of  any  race  in  a  particular  locality  is  largely 
accidental.  For  example,  the  Portuguese  first  came  to  New 
Bedford  in  their  own  sailing  vessels.  x\s  they  returned  to  that 
port  year  after  year  a  permanent  colony  was  gradually  formed, 
until,  to-day,  most  of  the  Portuguese  and  the  Bravas,  or  "  Black 
Portuguese,"  from  the  Cape  Verde  Islands,  who  are  coming  to 
the  United  States,  are  destined  for  Xew  Bedford,  Fall  River 
or  some  of  the  smaller  towns  on  the  Cape. 

The  demand  on  the  part  of  the  textile  mills,  the  shoe  fac- 
tories, the  construction  companies  and  other  industries  of  the 
State  for  unskilled  labor  has  brought  to  Massachusetts  people 
who  were  influenced  by  many  different  motives  to  leave  their 
old  homes. 

The  greater  importance  of  the  port  of  Boston  is  increasing 
the  number  of  those  who  may  be  said  to  drift  into  the  country 
and  who,  as  they  are  without  friends  or  relatives  and  have 
little  knowledge  of  the  country,  settle  where  they  land. 

The  Change  in  the  Immigrant  Problem. 

The  immigration  of  the  present  day  presents  a  far  more  com- 
plex problem  than  did  the  immigration  of  the  period  of  1840 
to  1890. 

A  striking  evidence  of  this  is  afforded  by  consideration  not  only 
of  the  vastly  greater  number  of  annual  arrivals,  but,  even  more 

1  13th  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large  (1864),  p.  385.    Not  until  1885  was  the  prepayment  of  tniii-p 
tion,  the  assistance  or  the  encouragement  of  foreigners  to  immigrate  under  contract  prohibited 
by  the  United  States. 


34  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

forcibly,  by  that  of  the  greatly  increased  number  of  nationalities 
and  of  languages  included  in  the  immigration  of  to-day. 

During  the  earlier  period  the  larger  proportion  of  the  arrivals 
spoke  English,  and  most  of  the  remainder  one  of  four  or  five 
other  tongues. 

Last  year  over  100,000  immigrants  arrived  in  Massachusetts. 
During  the  past  ten  years  the  yearly  average  has  been  73,38s,1 
and,  to-day,  a  single  Massachusetts  town  of  less  than  7,000 
population  includes  representatives  of  at  least  21  different 
nationalities  speaking  as  many  different  languages. 

Every  aspect  of  community  life  —  in  village,  town  or  city  — 
is  therefore  more  vitally  affected,  and  resources  of  every  nature 
are  far  more  seriously  strained,  than  during  the  earlier  immi- 
gration. 

Figures  showing  foreign  parentage  were  first  available  in  the 
United  States  Census  of  1870.  In  that  year  approximately  43 
per  cent  of  the  people  of  Massachusetts  were  foreign-born  or 
native-born  of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage;  in  1880  this  per- 
centage had  increased  to  50  per  cent;  in  1890  to  56  per  cent; 
in  1900  to  62  per  cent;  and  in  1910  to  66  per  cent.  The  increase 
in  the  total  population  and  the  per  cent  of  the  population  who 
are  either  foreign-born  or  of  foreign  parentage,  are  shown  in  the 
accompanying  diagram. 

At  present,  the  one-third  of  the  population  that  is  native- 
born  of  native  parentage  is  seeking  to  bring  under  dominant 
American  influence  the  other  two-thirds  of  the  population. 

This  gravely  perplexing  and  possibly  menacing  problem  is 
due  in  largest  measure  to  the  intense  industrial  expansion  that 
has  prevailed  during  the  past  fifteen  years. 

Employers  of  labor  have  been  speeding  ahead  under  forced 
draught,  and,  so  far  as  the  human  equation  has  entered  into 
their  calculations,  it  has  simply  been  a  question  of  sufficient 
supply  to  meet  the  demand  for  labor.  The  fact  that  the  only 
labor  available  for  unskilled  employment  was  that  of  non- 
English  speaking  people  has  caused  an  influx  of  those  whose  life 
in  their  own  country  made  them  willing  to  work  for  a  lower 
wage  and  to  live  more  cheaply  than  native-born  citizens. 

Attracted  by  the  seemingly  unlimited  opportunity  to  secure 

1  Computed  from   the  Annual  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration, 
1904-1913. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


35 


employment,  a  rapidly  growing  stream  of  Southern  and  Eastern 
Europeans   has   been   pouring   in   during   recent   years.      Unfa- 

Massachusett's:  18*70-1^10. 


1870 


AREA  OF   CIRCLE. 
EQUALS      TOTAL    POPU- 
LATION. 


1880 


BLACK       SECTION 
EQUALS     FOREIGN       BIRTH 
OR      PARENTAGE. 


I8S0 


noo 


mo 


Diagram  3.  —  Total  population  of  Massachusetts  from  1870  to  1910,  and  percentage  of 
population  of  foreign  birth  or  foreign  parentage. 

miliar  with  our  language,  our  laws,  our  customs,  methods  and 
standards  of  living,  these  newcomers  have  imposed  upon  many 


36  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

communities  burdens  far  beyond  their  financial  strength.  The 
addition  to  the  public  revenues  that  has  accrued  through  the 
tax  on  the  industries,  .as  expanded,  has  not  been  sufficient  to 
meet  the  cost  of  the  civic  burdens  which  the  growth  of  these 
industries  has  entailed. 

While  the  Commonwealth  has  cordially  received  these  natives 
of  every  country,  it  is  the  right  and  the  duty  of  the  State  to 
decide  as  to  the  terms  upon  which  they,  as  well  as  all  others, 
may  dwell  within  its  borders,  and  to  impose  such  conditions  as 
it  may  deem  essential  to  the  public  welfare.  The  old  laissez 
faire  policy  of  the  past,  which  amounted  to  officially  ignoring 
the  fact  that  Massachusetts  did  not  have  a  perfectly  homo- 
geneous Anglo-Saxon  population,  was  undoubtedly  a  wasteful 
one,  if  the  social  wreckage  and  the  incomplete  development  that 
such  a  policy  inevitably  entails  are  considered. 

To-day  the  serious  danger  of  continuing  it  should  be  ap- 
parent. It  is  therefore  to  be  hoped  that  the  creation  of  this 
commission,  charged  with  the  impossible  task  of  investigating 
in  seven  months  every  aspect  of  this  far-reaching  problem,  and 
of  suggesting  legislation  that  will  "bring  the  non-English  speak- 
ing immigrant  .  .  .  into  sympathetic  relations  with  American  in- 
stitutions," is  the  beginning,  not  the  end,  of  an  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  State  to  know  itself,  and  to  modify  and  adjust  its 
institutions  on  the  basis  of  that  knowledge.  Like  many  other 
States  Massachusetts  has  acted  on  the  theory  that  immigration 
is  at  the  present  time  wholly  a  federal  matter.  The  investiga- 
tions of  this  commission  show  that  quite  apart  from  the  federal 
question  of  whether  immigration  is  to  be  restricted  (and  if  so  on 
what  principle)  or  whether  no  further  restriction  is  to  be 
adopted,  the  problem  of  how  those  who  do  come  may  be  ad- 
justed to  their  new  environment  with  the  least  possible  loss  of 
such  physical  strength  and  idealism  as  they  bring,  will  remain  a 
problem  that  the  State  and  the  individual  communities  of  the 
State  must  solve. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  37 


CHAPTER  II. 
DISTRIBUTION. 

An  assertion  that  is  often  made  to  explain  the  need  of  dis- 
tribution is  that  the  immigrant  through  ignorance  goes  to  the 
cities  and  mill  towns,  "where  he  is  not  wanted,"  instead  of  to 
the  sparsely  settled  sections  of  the  west,  where  his  work  is  much 
desired.  This  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  facts.  The  great 
majority  of  the  immigrants  come  to  join  relatives  or  friends 
in  the  United  States,  who  "want"  them  so  much  that  they  have 
usually  made  many  sacrifices  to  enable  them  to  come.  Of  the 
immigrants  admitted  to  the  United  States  in  the  year  ended 
June  30,  1912,  92.5  per  cent  were  coming  to  join  relatives  or 
friends,  and  56.1  per  cent  came  on  tickets  furnished  them  by 
relatives  or  friends  in  this  country.1  If  the  immigrant  were  not 
industrially  "wanted"  he  would  not  go  to  the  city  or  to  the 
mill  town,  for  his  friends  and  relatives  are  not  able  to  support 
him  in  leisure. 

The  immigrant  is  in  most  cases  informed  by  his  relatives  and 
friends  as  to  certain  places  where  he  is  "wanted,"  and  comes 
guided  by  that  information.  This  is  a  kind  of  distribution  that 
may  seem  to  be  working  itself  out  satisfactorily,  but  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  only  seems  to  be  doing  so.  The  immigrant 
who  comes  from  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe  is  advised  by 
friends  who  have  been  here  only  a  short  time  themselves,  and 
who  know  really  nothing  of  where  the  immigrant  may  best  sell 
the  skill,  intelligence  or  physical  endurance  he  possesses.  That 
the  immigrant  should  receive  the  prevailing  rate  of  wages,  that 
he  should  work  under  decent  conditions  in  an  industry  which 
will  offer  him  the  largest  future  earning  capacity  of  which  he  is 
capable,  that  he  should  not  be  sent  out  to  jobs  that  do  not 
exist,  or  for  a  few  weeks'  work  to  an  already  oversupplied 
market,  is  as  important  to  the  American  working  man  with 
whom  he  inevitably  comes  into  competition,  as  to  the  immi- 
grant himself.  He  is,  therefore,  at  no  time  so  much  in  need 
of  intelligent  and  disinterested  advice  and  assistance  as  when  he 
first  offers  himself  in  the  American  labor  market. 


1  Annual  report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  191!,  p.  75. 


38  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

And  yet  except  for  such  assistance  as  his  inexperienced  friends 
may  give  him,  the  immigrant  is  dependent  upon  the  private 
employment  agent,  whose  interests  often  conflict  with  the  in- 
terests both  of  the  immigrant  and  of  the  community. 

Section  1.    Distribution  through  Private  Employment  Agencies. 

Factory  work  is  usually  secured  not  through  an  employment 
agent  but  by  direct  application  at  the  factory.  The  employ- 
ment agent,  therefore,  usually  offers  the  newly  arrived  immi- 
grant man  "gang"  work  with  the  pick  and  shovel  on  railroad 
construction  and  maintenance;  road-building;  extending  the 
electric  railways;  lumbering  in  the  Maine  and  New  Hampshire 
woods;  work  in  the  quarries;  harvesting  for  the  farmers  in 
summer  and  for  the  ice  companies  in  winter. 

The  kind  of  employment  varies  with  the  nationality.  The 
Pole  is  the  farmhand  in  central  and  western  Massachusetts, 
and  the  Portuguese  is  the  farmhand  on  the  Cape.1  The  Italian 
does  most  of  the  construction  work,  although  Portuguese,  Greek, 
Polish  and  other  Slavic  men  are  sometimes  employed.  For  the 
lumber  camp,  if  Irish-Americans,  Swedes  or  French-Canadians 
cannot  be  secured,  Poles,  Russians  and  Lithuanians  are  pre- 
ferred. To  the  immigrant  women,  the  employment  agent  usu- 
ally offers  work  in  hotels,  restaurants  and  private  families. 

Because  of  the  financial  necessities  and  the  helplessness,  not 
only  of  the  immigrant  but  of  all  the  men  and  women  who  are, 
during  unemployment,  dependent  upon  employment  agencies, 
these  agencies  have  been  carefully  regulated  in  many  States. 
In  Massachusetts,  however,  their  regulation  has  been  woefully 
inadequate. 

Statutory  Regulation   of   Private  Employment  Agencies 

in  Massachusetts. 

The  Massachusetts  statute  regulating  employment  agencies 
was  passed  many  years  ago,  has  not  been  amended  since  1894, 
and  lacks  all  the  safeguards  of  a  good  law.2  It  applies  only  to 
those  " intelligence  offices"  that  furnish  employment  to  do- 
mestics,  servants  and   other  laborers.     Except  in  Boston  the 

1  See  ch.  IV,  sec.  2. 

2  Revised  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  ch.  102,  sees.  23-28. 


1914.]  "HOUSE  — No.  2300.  39 

license  is  granted  by  the  mayor  and  aldermen,  and  a  license  fee 
of  not  less  than  $2  is  fixed  by  the  law.  No  fees  can  be  charged 
applicants  unless  employment  of  the  kind  demanded  is  fur- 
nished. This  is  an  ambiguous  provision,  which  seems  to  say 
that  the  work  must  be  given  before  the  fee  can  be  accepted. 
If  the  person  who  receives  employment  is  discharged  within 
ten  days,  and  if  such  discharge  is  not  caused  by  his  inability  or 
incompetence  or  refusal  to  work,  the  agent  must  refund  five- 
sixths  of  the  amount  paid;  but  as  no  bond  is  required  of  the 
agent,  the  recovery  of  fees  is  very  uncertain.  No  provision  is 
made  for  reimbursement  for  railroad  fare,  or  other  expenses  in- 
curred, in  case  the  applicant  for  employment  does  not  secure 
work  of  the  kind  promised  him.  There  is  no  regulation  of  the 
keeping  of  records,  of  the  kind  of  receipts  that  must  be  given 
for  the  fees  paid,  or  of  the  contracts  that  must  be  furnished  the 
men  who  are  hired  through  the  agent  and  sent  to  work  out  of 
town. 

Rules  for  the  Regulation  of  Private  Employment  Agen- 
cies ADOPTED    BY  THE   BOSTON  LICENSING   BOARD. 

The  rules  of  the  Boston  Licensing  Board  are  more  comprehen- 
sive than  the  State  law.  They  provide  for  two  kinds  of  licenses, 
known  as  Class  1  and  Class  2  licenses.  The  holders  of  the  Class 
1  licenses  are  the  ones  with  whom  the  immigrant  comes  in  con- 
tact, for  they  are  authorized  by  the  Board  to  place  coachmen, 
grooms,  lumbermen,  seamstresses,  cooks,  scrubwomen,  laun- 
dresses, chambermaids,  domestic  servants,  agricultural  and 
other  laborers.1  These  agents  are  required  to  pay  an  annual 
license  fee  of  $25,  and  the  fees  they  may  charge  are  SO. 75  for  a 
woman  and  $1  for  a  man,  placed  in  a  position  paying  less  than 
$4  a  week,  and  20  per  cent  of  the  first  week's  wages  for  a 
woman  and  25  per  cent  for  a  man,  placed  at  more  than 
a  week.  Receipts,  record  books  and  regular  inspections  are  re- 
quired under  the  Boston  rules. 

The  fundamental  defects  of  the  Boston  rules  are  at  once  ap- 
parent. In  the  first  place,  the  licensing  of  employment  agencies 
is  given  to  a  board  whose  principal  function  is  the  granting  of 

1  Class  1  covers  almost  every  kind  of  agency  except  teachers',  nurses'  and  theatrical  agencies  . 
The  license  fee  and  the  fees  that  may  be  charged  by  the  agent  are  higher  than  those  for  Class  2 
agencies. 


40  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

liquor  licenses,  and  who  cannot,  therefore,  give  the  attention  to 
employment  agencies  that  is  necessary.  In  the  second  place, 
the  License  Board  makes  the  rules  and  grants  the  licenses,  and 
then  relies  upon  the  police  to  enforce  the  regulations.  Bad  in 
theory,  this  has  been  found  worse  in  practice. 

The  Massachusetts  Commission  to  investigate  Employment 
Agencies,  which  reported  to  the  Legislature  in  1911,  found  that 
"fraud,  dishonesty  and  immorality"  practiced  by  employment 
agents  went  undiscovered  and  unpunished  under  the  present 
laws.1 

In  its  investigation  of  the  relation  of  the  immigrant  to  the 
employment  agent  in  Boston  and  in  other  cities  of  the  State, 
the  Commission  on  Immigration  has  found  (1)  that  the  immi- 
grant deals  frequently  with  unlicensed  agents  who  are  uncon- 
trolled even  by  the  inadequate  regulations  of  the  Massachusetts 
law;  (2)  that  he  is  sent  to  jobs  which  do  not  exist  or  are  not 
the  kind  of  jobs  they  were  represented  to  be;  and  (3)  that  he  is 
frequently  overcharged  when  work  is  furnished  him. 

All  payment  for  getting  work  cannot  be  regulated  under  the 
Employment  Agency  Law.  The  foreman  in  the  mill  or  factory 
who  charges  the  newly  arrived  immigrant  $10,  $15  or  $25  for  a 
job  and  then,  under  threat  of  discharge,  collects  from  him  again 
and  again,  is  not  an  employment  agent.  Frequent  complaints 
of  this  were  received.2  This  practice  is  prohibited  by  a  statute, 
the  enforcement  of  which  is,  however,  difficult  and  unjust.  It 
provides  that  both  the  foreman  and  the  immigrant  are  punish- 
able by  fine  or  imprisonment  for  this  offense.3 

At  one  of  the  hearings  of  the  commission,  testimony  was 
given  concerning  a  rubber  factory  in  Massachusetts.  For  more 
than  a  year  the  Lithuanian  employees  paid  regularly  a  part  of 
their  wages  to  one  of  the  foremen  in  order  to  keep  their  jobs. 
Finally,  nineteen  of  the  men  were  persuaded  to  sign  affidavits 
to  this  effect.  These  affidavits  were  presented  to  the  president 
of  the  corporation  and  within  two  weeks  the  nineteen  men  were 
discharged. 

Most  employers  find  it  hard  to  believe  that  this  kind  of 
exploitation  is  possible  in  their  establishments,  although  they 

1  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Commission  to  investigate  Employment  Agencies,  p.  18. 

*  8ee  Ch.  Ill,  sec.  4. 

3  Massachusetts  Acts  and  Resolves,  1909,  ch.  514,  sec.  28. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  41 

usually  make  little  effort  to  prevent  it.  Immigrants  of  all 
nationalities  are  convinced  that  reporting  cases  of  this  sort 
means,  as  it  did  in  the  case  of  these  Lithuanians,  the  loss  of 
work  to  them  but  not  to  the  foremen.  It  is  believed  that  vigi- 
lance on  the  part  of  employers  in  assisting  in  the  discovery 
and  punishment  of  foremen  who  demand  or  accept  money  from 
those  under  them  is  necessary  to  break  up  such  practices.  A 
central  employment  bureau  where  all  the  men  are  hired  has 
also  been  found  to  reduce  the  possibility  of  this  kind  of  petty 
exploitation.  If  posting  the  law  throughout  the  factory  in  Eng- 
lish and  in  the  language  of  the  immigrants  were  required,  it 
would  serve  as  a  useful  warning. 

Boston  Employment  Agents  supply  Immigrant  Labor  for 
the  Lumber  Camps  of  New  England. 

Readers  of  the  Reports  of  the  United  States  Immigration  Com- 
mission were  shocked  to  find  the  statement  that  "since  the  evils 
of  involuntary  servitude  have  been  largely  stamped  out  in  the 
southern  States,  there  has  probably  existed  in  Maine  the  most 
complete  system  of  peonage  in  the  entire  country."  The 
victims  of  the  system,  the  report  said,  are  "laborers,  largely 
foreigners"  who  work  in  the  lumber  camps  and  are  secured 
principally  through  Boston  employment  agencies.1  Although 
the  Maine  law,  the  constitutionality  of  which  has  not  been 
tested,  still  legalizes  involuntary  servitude  to  reimburse  an  em- 
ployer for  money  advanced  for  transportation  expenses,2  the  com- 
mission did  not  find  that  at  present  this  law  was  being  invoked 
to  compel  men  to  remain  at  work.  It  did  find,  however,  serious 
exploitation  and  misrepresentation  on  the  part  of  the  employ- 
ment agencies  in  Boston  and  of  the  ones  in  New  York,  Bangor 
and  Portland,  by  whom  the  business  of  furnishing  Poles, 
Russians  and  Lithuanians  for  this  work  is  jointly  handled. 

The  past  season  has  been  an  unusual  one,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  many  men  were  brought  into  Maine  from  Canada  during 
the  summer  of  1913  to  work  for  the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad. 


1  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  2,  p.  447. 

2  Laus  of  Maine,  1907,  ch.  7.  According  to  this  law  it  is  a  crime  for  a  person  to  "enter  into  an 
agreement  to  labor  for  any  lumbering  operation  or  in  driving  logs  and  in  consideration  thereof 
receive  any  advances  of  goods,  money  or  transportation,  and  unreasonably  and  with  intent  to 
defraud,  fail  to  enter  into  said  employment  as  agreed  and  labor  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to  reim- 
burse his  employer  for  said  advances  and  expenses ." 


42  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

When  the  railroad  camps  were  closed,  at  the  end  of  the  season, 
these  men  were  available  for  work  in  the  woods,  so  shipments 
from  Boston  were  smaller  last  autumn  than  in  previous  years. 
Individual  cases  of  fraud  and  abuse  have  therefore  been  fewer, 
but  the  social  and  industrial  confusion  which  comes  from 
the  fact  that  the  distribution  of  laborers  is  in  the  hands  of 
private  employment  agencies  has  been  greater.  A  Boston  agent 
who  has  supplied  the  lumber  camps  around  Bangor  for  many 
years  said  that  there  were  1,000  men  idle  in  that  city  last 
season,  and  yet  during  October  and  November  he  and  other 
agents  in  Boston  were  shipping  gangs  of  ten,  twenty  and  forty 
men  several  times  a  week.  An  investigator  for  the  commission 
was  sent  out  in  November  by  one  such  agent  with  forty  Poles. 
All  of  them,  after  a  wralk  of  twenty  miles,  were  put  to  work. 
On  his  way  back  to  Boston,  this  investigator  found  a  group  of 
Poles  who  had  paid  fees  of  $4  (in  one  case  $5)  in  a  Boston 
employment  office,  and  had  been  given  the  card  of  a  Bangor 
agent.  In  Bangor  they  were  told  that  they  should  have  paid 
nothing  in  Boston,  and  were  given  cards  to  the  camp  "boss," 
marked  "office  fee  due."  They  walked  about  twenty  miles 
to  the  camp,  and  at  the  end  of  a  week  were  discharged  be- 
cause, they  were  told,  some  of  the  old  employees  had  returned. 
Of  three  men  who  had  paid  fees  to  the  Boston  agency  one  was 
given  $3  when  discharged,  and  two  others  were  given  $3.50. 
They  had  all  been  promised  free  transportation  and  $35  a 
month  and  board  if  they  stayed  until  they  were  discharged, 
and  $28  a  month  if  they  left  before  the  completion  of  the  work. 
These  men  had  lost  two  weeks  in  time,  had  walked  about  forty 
miles,  had  spent  some  money  for  the  things  they  thought  they 
should  need  in  the  camp,  and  had  still  to  pay  for  their  rail- 
road fare  back  to  Boston.  On  their  return  to  Boston,  if  they 
knew  their  rights  under  the  law  and  succeeded  in  proving  their 
case,  they  could  get  back  five-sixths  of  the  $4  they  had  paid 
the  Boston  agent,  and  he  could  go  on  doing  the  same  thing. 

A  Pole  in  Peabody,  sent  to  the  woods  in  October,  1913,  was 
promised  $1.15  a  day  and  board.  He  paid  an  office  fee  of 
$1.50  to  a  Boston  agency.  When  he  reached  Maine  his  receipt 
was  taken  away  from  him  by  the  Maine  agency  and  he  was 
given  a  contract  on  which  was  stamped  "office  fee  due."     He 


Exterior  and  Interior  views  <>f   rode  kitchen  bnilt  bj  laborers  in  ;t  construction 
camp.  No  place  to  cook  is  provided  bj  the  company.    (See  pages  69  and  following. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  43 

worked'  twenty-seven   days   and   was   paid   $16;     it   cost   him 
$6.50  to  get  home. 

A  Russian  in  Peabody  was  also  sent  to  Maine  by  a  Boston 
agency  with  twenty-seven  other  Russian  and  Polish  immigrants 
in  September,  1913.  They  were  told  by  the  agent  that  they 
would  be  paid  S35  a  month  and  board,  that  the  fare  from  Bos- 
ton to  the  camp  was  $4,  and  that  the  railroad  station  was  in 
the  camp.  Each  of  them  paid  a  fee  of  $1.50  to  the  employ- 
ment office.  They  walked  two  days,  from  early  morning  till 
night,  to  get  from  the  railroad  station  to  the  place  where  they 
were  to  work.  Finding  camp  conditions  intolerable,  eleven  of 
them  left  after  working  eighteen  days.  They  were  paid  $7 
apiece  when  they  demanded  their  wages.  They  walked  two 
days  back  to  the  railroad  station,  found  the  fare  was  $13,  and 
had  to  write  to  their  friends  for  money  to  get  back  to  Boston. 
One  Pole  who  worked  twenty-one  days  had  $7.75  coming  to 
him  when  office  fees  and  transportation  had  been  deducted. 
The  editor  of  a  Swedish  newspaper  reported  that  complaints 
were  formerly  received  by  the  paper  of  similar  treatment  of 
Finns  and  Swedes.  Now  they  have  learned  that  lumbering  in 
Sweden  and  lumbering  in  the  United  States  are  two  very 
different  propositions. 

Russians  and  Poles  sent  to  Calumet. 
Last  June  several  Russians  who  were  looking  for  work  were 
picked  up  on  the  street  and  piloted  to  an  employment  office 
by  a  runner.  For  this  service  he  charged  the  immigrants  $1.50 
apiece.  At  the  office  arrangement  was  made  for  them  to  work 
in  the  woods  as  sawyers,  and  transportation  and  office  fees  were 
to  be  advanced.  They  were  given  an  address  in  Kineo,  Me., 
taken  to  the  depot  and  sent  to  Calumet,  Mich.,  where  they 
were  expected  to  work  in  the  copper  mines.  When  they  got 
away  and  were  picked  up  by  the  Immigrants'  Protective 
League  in  Chicago,  after  they  had  worked  their  way  down  from 
Calumet,  they  had  still  the  card  of  the  Boston  agent,  calling 
for  work  as  a  sawyer  at  Kineo,  Me.  They  were  unable  to 
explain  what  had  happened  to  them,  had  no  idea  where  Maine 
was,  or  why  they  were  taken  to  Michigan.  They  knew  they 
had   been  deceived,   had   been   compelled   to   leave  their  little 


44  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

bundle  of  clothes  in  order  to  effect  their  escape,  and  insisted 
that  their  only  desire  was  to  get  back  to  their  relatives  in  West 
Hanover,  Mass.;  but  when  the  expense  of  returning  was  ex- 
plained to  them  they  were  completely  discouraged.  More 
than  two  hundred  Russians  and  Poles  were  sent  to  Calumet 
through  this  and  another  agency  last  summer.  How  many  of 
them  knew  they  were  being  sent  to  the  mines  and  were  to  be 
used  as  strike-breakers  cannot  be  said. 

In  New  York,1  Illinois,2  and  Pennsylvania3  laborers  who  are 
sent  out  of  the  city  are  given  receipts  for  any  money  paid  and 
contracts  in  the  language  they  speak,  showing  in  detail  the 
terms  of  transportation,  fees,  rates  of  wages,  probable  duration 
of  the  employment  and  the  name  of  the  employer  and  the  place 
where  the  work  is  to  be  performed.4  Duplicates  of  these  con- 
tracts are  kept  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  agent,  and  in  New 
York  another  copy  is  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Commissioner  of 
Licenses.5  Complaints  are  handled  by  an  officer  especially 
charged  with  the  enforcement  of  the  Employment  Agency  Law, 
whose  address  is  on  the  back  of  every  receipt  and  contract. 
The  bond  required  of  an  employment  agent  makes  certain  the 
refunding  of  fees  and  railroad  fare  when  work  is  not  secured. 
Under  the  Massachusetts  law  and  the  Boston  rules  none  of 
these  provisions  is  made;  therefore  unless  the  law  is  amended, 
the  Poles,  Russians  and  Lithuanians  will  continue  to  be  ex- 
ploited in  this  way,  and  on  their  return  to  Massachusetts  the 
State  will  suffer  from  the  reaction  that  must  follow  such  ex- 
periences. 

Unlicensed  Agents  conduct  Employment  Offices. 

Agencies  which  come  within  the  provisions  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts law  were  found  to  be  operating  without  a  license,  and 
advertising  in  the  newspapers  and  on  the  doors  of  their  offices 
that  they  were  employment  agents. 

The  Italians  who  do  construction  work  are  usually  secured, 
not  through  the  licensed  employment  agent,  but  through  a 
"straw  boss,"  or  "padrone,"  who  acts  as  commissary  in  the 

1  Laws  of  New  York,  1910,  ch.  700,  sec.  182. 

2  Illinois  Revised  Statutes,  ch.  48,  67e,  sec.  5. 

3  Laws  of  Pennsylvania,  1907,  No.  90,  sec.  9. 

4  See  Appendix  L  for  abstract  of  these  laws. 
*  Laws  of  New  York,  1910,  ch.  700,  sec.  182. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  45 

camp.1  He  comes  to  Boston,  Worcester  or  Springfield  and  in- 
spects the  men  that  the  immigrant  " banker,"  with  whom  he 
does  business,  has  rounded  up  for  him.  Sometimes  the  "boss," 
or  camp  commissary  canvasses  the  colony  himself. 

Some  of  these  immigrant  bankers  formerly  had  employment 
agency  licenses,  but  apparently  found  investment  in  that  bit  of 
official  paper  an  unnecessary  expense.  If  men  are  scarce  the 
banker  is  paid  SI  or  $2  for  every  man  furnished,  and  the  "boss" 
is  able  to  more  than  reimburse  himself  from  their  wages.  If 
jobs  are  few  the  immigrant  pays  before  he  leaves  the  city  as 
well  as  after  he  reaches  the  camp.  No  receipts  are  given  these 
men.  Contracts  are  all  verbal,  and  the  men  are  usually 
promised  much  better  living  conditions,  and  sometimes  better 
wages,  than  they  are  given.  The  bankers  who  furnish  these 
men  —  and  every  Italian  banker  visited  by  the  commission's  in- 
vestigator carries  on  this  kind  of  employment  agency  business  — 
are  covered  by  the  Employment  Agency  Law  and  should  be 
licensed. 2 

Those  agents  who  have  no  offices,  but  make  their  head- 
quarters in  North  Square  in  Boston,  or  canvass  in  the  city 
generally,  are  the  least  responsible  group,  and  yet  they  cannot 
be  reached  by  the  State  law  or  by  the  Boston  rules.  This  fact 
was  first  discovered  by  the  investigator  for  the  commission, 
when  a  judge  explained  that  a  man  who  had  charged  four 
Poles  So  each  for  jobs  as  longshoremen,  which  he  had  not 
furnished,  was  not  liable  under  the  employment  agency  regula- 
tions as  he  had  no  office. 

The  impossibility  of  preventing  misrepresentation  and  fraud 
on  the  part  of  these  men  who  act  as  agents  but  maintain  no 
office  was  illustrated  in  another  case.  A  Chelsea  man  made  ar- 
rangements with  a  New  York  agency  to  ship  men  from  that 
city  to  Maine  via  Boston,  and  to  divide  the  fees.  He  had  no 
orders  for  the  men,  but  he  knew  some  Maine  names  and  ad- 
dresses and  was  willing  to  gamble  on  the  men's  not  being  able 
to  find  him  in  case  they  failed  to  get  work.  Fourteen  Poles 
who  were  sent  him  on  one  occasion  by  the  New  York  agent  were 
forwarded  by  him  to  Maine;  they  failed  to  get  work,  and  were 
picked  up,  stranded,  by  the  police.     Twenty  more  were  sent  a 

1  See  ch.  Ill,  sec.  4,  "Construction  Camps." 

*  See  ch.  VIII,  sec.  2,  "Safeguarding  Immigrant  Savings." 


46  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

little  later  and  were  stopped  in  Boston.  They  had  receipts 
showing  they  had  each  paid  $7.50  to  the  New  York  agency. 
Through  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Industries  and  Immigration, 
arrangements  were  made  by  the  commission's  investigator  for 
their  return  to  appear  against  the  New  York  agent.  The  Chel- 
sea man  could  not  be  reached  in  Massachusetts,  as  he  was  not 
conducting  an  "intelligence  office/' 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  employment  agency  system  as  it  affects 
the  largest  groups  of  foreign  laborers.1  The  women  are  seldom 
sent  out  of  town;  and  the  kind  of  financial  exploitation  of 
women  which  exists  is  less  serious  among  them  than  with  men. 
The  moral  exploitation  of  the  women,  of  which  the  Commis- 
sion to  investigate  Employment  Agencies  found  evidence,2  was 
not  investigated  by  the  Commission  on  Immigration,  as  the 
Massachusetts  White  Slave  Commission  is  at  work  on  that 
particular  aspect  of  the  problem. 

Amendment   of   the   Massachusetts   Employment   Agency 

Law  Necessary. 

For  the  protection  of  the  immigrant  who  is  peculiarly  helpless 
in  his  dealings  with  the  labor  agent  it  is  obvious  that  the 
private  Employment  Agency  Law  in  Massachusetts  should  be 
brought  up  to  the  standard  of  the  laws  of  other  States.  Its 
definition  of  what  constitutes  an  employment  agency  should  be 
made  more  comprehensive  in  order  that  the  padrone,  the 
banker  and  the  irresponsible  street  agent  may  be  brought  within 
the  law;  carefully  prescribed  records  should  be  kept,  and  con- 
tracts and  receipts  in  the  language  of  the  immigrant  should  be 
given. 

The  supervision  of  these  offices  should  be  given  to  the 
Board  of  Labor  and  Industries,  and  regular  inspections  should 
be  made  by  inspectors  of  employment  agencies.  Those  engaged 
in  an  interstate  business  should  be  licensed  and  supervised  by  the 

1  The  New  York  Commission  on  Immigration  reported  much  fraud  and  misrepresentation  in 
connection  with  the  securing  of  men  to  work  for  their  passage  by  acting  as  cattle  attendants  on 
boats  sailing  from  Boston  to  England.  According  to  the  New  York  report  many  Slavs  and  some 
other  nationalities  were  shipped  for  this  work  by  a  New  York  agency  working  in  conjunction  with 
a  Boston  agency.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  cattle  shipments  have  been  infrequent  during  the  past 
few  years,  these  frauds  are  no  longer  serious.  But  the  difficulty  in  dealing  locally  with 
an  interstate  problem  was  illustrated  by  New  York's  inability  to  remedy  the  situation  disclosed 
in  that  report.    Report  of  the  New  York  Commission  on  Immigration,  pp.  79,  80. 

2  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Commission  to  investigate  Employment  Agencies,  1911,  p.  IS. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  47 

United  States  Department  of  Labor.  If  this  were  done  the  work 
of  all  these  offices  would  be  put  on  a  quite  different  basis. 
Vigilant  prosecution  of  offenders  against  the  law  would  soon 
prevent  the  gross  frauds  and  abuses  that  are  now  perpetrated. 
But  better  regulation  of  private  employment  agencies,  which  is 
so  much  needed  in  Massachusetts,  will  only  partially  meet  the 
situation.  Many  of  these  agencies  do  an  interstate  business. 
These  can  be  properly  controlled  only  when  they  are  regulated 
by  federal  statute  and  supervised  by  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Labor.  But  better  regulation  of  private  employment 
agencies  can  never  solve  the  real  difficulty.  The  same  unin- 
telligent organization  of  the  labor  market  will  continue  until, 
in  the  interests  of  the  State  and  of  the  individual,  State  and 
national  labor  exchanges  undertake  this  work. 

Section  2.    The  State  Free  Employment  Agencies  and  the  Immi- 
grant. 

The  economic  waste  that  results  from  the  failure  to  offer 
the  immigrant  the  guidance  he  needs  in  obtaining  employment 
has  never  been  appreciated.  The  Maine  lumber  situation  which 
has  just  been  described  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  wasteful- 
ness of  the  private  employment  agency  system.  The  New 
York,  Boston  and  Bangor  agencies,  which,  working  together, 
have  supplied  the  men  in  the  past,  are,  of  course,  in  the  business 
for  the  fees  they  collect.  So,  although  there  is  already  an  over- 
supplied  labor  market  in  Bangor,  more  men  are  sent  there  from 
New  York  and  Boston,  to  be  laid  off  in  a  short  time  and  their 
places  taken  by  other  men  in  order  that  fees  may  be  collected. 

There  is  also  the  economic  waste  that  comes  when  the 
foreigner,  skilled  in  a  trade  in  his  home  country,  finds  it  im- 
possible to  follow  that  trade  here.  Frequently  this  is  due  to  the 
immigrant's  inability'  to  make  known  his  skill,  or  to  the  fact 
that  his  trade  is  already  overcrowded  or  is  not  needed  in  the 
town  in  which  the  relatives  to  whom  he  comes  happen  to  live. 
In  securing  the  personal  history  schedules  of  immigrants 
throughout  the  State,1  the  commission  asked  (1)  What  v 
your  occupation  before  coming  to  the  United  States?  and  (2) 
What  work  did  you  expect  to  do  here,  and  why?    The  answers, 

1  See  Append) 


48  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

of  course,  were  various.  Many  were  ready  for  any  work  that 
could  be  found;  many  expected  to  work  in  factories  because 
their  friends  had  told  them  that  that  was  all  they  could  do  in 
this  country;  but  many  came  expecting  to  follow  their  own 
trade  because  that  was  what  they  had  been  trained  to  do. 

For  example,  seven  years  ago  a  Polish  shoemaker,  moved  by 
the  letters  from  his  fellow  countrymen  telling  of  the  splendid  con- 
ditions here,  left  his  home  in  Austria  when  he  was  twenty -four 
years  old  to  come  to  this  country.  He  had  learned  the  trade 
of  shoemaker  when  a  boy  of  nine,  and  expected  to  follow  his 
trade  in  this  country.  He  spent  a  month  in  his  search  for 
work,  but  finally  gave  it  up  and  took  a  place  in  the  dyeing  de- 
partment of  a  large  cotton  mill.  Here  he  stayed  four  and  one 
half  years.  Then  he  worked  as  a  weaver  for  nearly  two  years. 
Then  he  drifted  into  a  woolen  mill,  where  he  still  is,  earning 
from  $8  to  $9  a  week. 

There  are  many  similar  cases  of  economic  waste.  A  Russian 
Jew,  trained  to  be  a  plumber,  struggled  to  support  his  family 
by  his  trade  for  a  year,  then  gave  it  up  and  learned  tailoring; 
a  Finn,  thirty-nine  years  old,  who  was  a  mason  at  home,  is 
working  as  a  weaver  in  a  woolen  mill,  earning  $8  a  week;  a 
nineteen-year-old  Jew,  who  was  a  watchmaker  in  Russia,  is 
working  in  a  shoe  factory  in  one  of  the  large  shoe  manufactur- 
ing towns,  earning  $8.50  a  week;  a  Pole,  a  trained  electrician, 
who  had  been  in  this  country  a  month  when  he  was  inter- 
viewed, found  work  in  a  shoe  factory  at  $5  a  week;  a  Portu- 
guese tinsmith  has  been  working  for  five  months  in  a  cotton 
mill  where  he  earns  $6.60  a  week;  and  a  Polish  locksmith,  who 
has  been  in  the  United  States  four  years,  is  earning  $7  a  week 
in  a  cotton  mill. 

There  is  no  question  of  the  wastefulness  of  allowing  a  skilled 
immigrant  to  drift  into  a  new  and  usually  an  unskilled  occupa- 
tion. But,  if  left  to  his  own  resources  or  to  the  advice  of  a 
relative  or  friend  who  has  been  here  four  or  five  years,  this  sort 
of  waste  must  occur. 

The  great  majority  of  young  men  and  women  who  are  com- 
ing to  the  United  States  do  not,  however,  belong  to  this  group. 
They  are  not  artisans  but  peasants  from  the  rural  districts  of 
Southern  and  Eastern  Europe,  who  are  having  their  first  in- 


1914.]  HOUSE —  No.  2300.  49 

dustrial  experience  in  the  United  States,  and  whose  only  asset 
seems  to  be  their  physical  strength.  That  they  are  un- 
skilled, does  not  mean,  however,  that  they  are  all  on  the  same 
plane  as  regards  ability  or  aptitude. 

The  South  Italian,  who  comes  to  friends  or  relatives  in  Jin- 
ton,  finds  that  the  path  of  least  resistance  leads  him  into  work 
as  a  laborer  in  construction  camps,  on  the  streets  or  in  the 
building  trades.  The  jobs  last  only  a  few  weeks  or  months,  so 
he  is  constantly  looking  for  work,  and  is  open  to  the  danger  of 
demoralization  that  comes  with  enforced  periods  of  idleness. 
Of  the  211  Italians  in  different  parts  of  the  State  from  whom 
personal  histories  were  obtained  in  the  investigation  of  this  com- 
mission, only  40  per  cent  gave  any  evidence  that  their  indus- 
trial condition  had  improved  since  they  came  to  the  United 
States.1  With  the  older  men  this  is  perhaps  the  inevitable  re- 
sult of  lack  of  early  training.  With  the  younger  men  it  is  the 
result  of  unintelligent  organization  of  educational  and  employ- 
ment opportunities  in  the  State.  In  one  of  the  construction 
camps  near  Boston  the  men  were  practically  all  young,  some  of 
them  had  had  considerable  education,  all  of  them  had  drifted 
into  that  work  2  and  none  of  them  knew  how  he  might  find  work 
for  which  he  was  better  fitted. 

Those  immigrants  who  desire  to  improve  their  condition,  and 
who  realize  that  a  change  of  employment  is  necessary,  must 
start  out  blindly.  A  typical  case  is  that  of  a  strong  and  intelli- 
gent Polish  man,  twenty -eight  years  old.  He  had  been  a 
butcher  in  Russia  and  came  to  this  country  a  little  over  six- 
years  ago  to  avoid  service  in  the  Russian  army.  After  three 
weeks,  during  which  he  had  no  work,  he  found  a  job  in  a 
rubber  factory  in  a  small  Massachusetts  town.  He  stayed 
there  four  years,  and  then  because  his  wages  were  very  low, 
started  out  to  look  for  better  work.  In  this  quest  he  was  em- 
ployed two  weeks  in  a  granite  quarry  in  Vermont,  earning  $8  a 
week;  he  worked  for  two  months  in  a  saw  mill  in  Canada,  where 
he  was  paid  $30  a  month  and  board.  He  was  unhappy,  however, 
because  there  were  none  of  his  country  people  at  the  mill,  and 
he  himself  had  never  learned  to  speak  English.  He  returned, 
therefore,  to  the  rubber  factory  in  the  little  town  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  went  back  to  his  old  job  at  the  old  wages. 

1  See  Appendix  A  for  description  of  method  by  which  this  information  vraa 
1  See  ch.  Ill,  sec.  4,  "Construction  Camps.'' 


50  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

A  Ruthenian,  who  borrowed  money  to  come  to  this  country 
nine  years  ago,  has  gone  through  a  similarly  blind  search  for  in- 
creased opportunity.  After  looking  for  work  for  a  few  weeks 
he  got  a  place  as  weaver  in  a  cotton  mill  in  a  town  in  the  wes- 
tern part  of  the  State.  There  he  stayed  six  months,  earning 
from  $9  to  $10  a  week  at  piecework.  In  the  hope  of  making 
more  money  he  moved  to  a  larger  city  in  the  Connecticut 
valley.  Here  he  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  same  work, 
but  the  wages  too  were  the  same.  Six  months  ago  he  moved 
to  another  cotton  mill  town  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State. 
Here  he  still  works  the  same  number  of  hqurs  and  for  the  same 
wage. 

An  Austrian  Pole,  who  came  to  this  country  twenty-five 
years  ago  as  a  boy  of  fifteen,  had  learned  tailoring  in  his  home 
country  and  expected  to  follow  the  same  trade  here.  He  went 
to  a  mill  town,  however,  and  became  a  weaver.  After  nine 
years  he  made  the  venture  of  moving  to  a  New  Hampshire 
town,  hoping  that  in  the  cotton  mills  there  he  might  be  able 
to  earn  higher  wages.  The  experiment  was  a-  failure.  He 
came  back  to  his  old  home,  applied  again  for  a  job  in  the  mill, 
and  has  been  working  there  without  a  break  for  the  last  fifteen 
years,  earning  practically  the  same  wages. 

Everywhere  in  Massachusetts  there  is  this  restless  movement 
of  the  immigrant  from  place  to  place  and  from  mill  to  mill. 
How  serious  this  is,  the  table  in  Appendix  F,  showing  the  changes 
in  one  cotton  mill  during  the  past  year,  indicates.  This  un- 
directed wandering  in  search  of  work  by  people  whose  sources  of 
information  are  so  meager  means  economic  loss  for  the  em- 
ployer as  well  as  for  the  immigrant,  and  complicates  every 
community  problem.  It  is,  however,  the  evidence  of  a  proper 
dissatisfaction  with  a  failure  to  advance.  To  make  this  dis- 
satisfaction result  in  something  more  than  a  weary  and  dis- 
couraging restlessness,  education  and  intelligent  direction  into 
the  kind  of  employment  for  which  the  wrorkers  are  most  suited 
is  necessary.  Such  direction  can  be  given  only  by  agencies  that 
are  considering  the  good  of  the  State  and  not  the  fees  they  may 
collect. 

The  first  step  toward  the  reduction  of  the  evils  of  the 
present  system  of  distribution  is  a  State  employment  agency 


1914.]  HOUSE   -No.  2300.  51 

clearing  through  a  national  agency,  which  shall  make  a  compre- 
hensive study  of  the  labor  market,  shall  give  special  attention  to 
the  casual  labor  problem,  shall  do  the  practical  work  of  placing 
the  individual  man  in  the  individual  job,  and  shall  develop  a 
follow-up  system,  so  that  subsequent  work  shall  be  increasingly 
efficient. 

Development   of   the   State   Free    Employment    Agencies 

Necessary. 

The  beginnings  of  such  a  system  already  exist.  Massachu- 
setts has  had  State  free  employment  offices  since  1906.  *  There 
are  at  present  offices  in  Boston,  Fall  River,  Springfield  and 
Worcester.  These  agencies  are,  however,  making  no  attempt 
to  meet  the  needs  of  the  immigrant.2  At  one  time  there 
were  several  interpreters  at  the  Boston  office,  but  they  are  no 
longer  employed,  and  no  attempt  is  being  made  at  the  Boston 
or  other  offices  to  handle  the  immigrant  "gang"  labor,  al- 
though the  need  so  sorely  exists,  or  to  direct  the  individual 
immigrant  into  the  work  for  which  he  is  best  suited. 

With  the  limited  funds  and  indifferent  public  backing  that 
these  agencies  have  had,  they  have  probably  accomplished  all 
that  could  be  expected  of  them.  They  have  been  under  the 
general  supervision  of  the  director  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics, 
whose  principal  work  is  the  collection  and  tabulation  of  the 
statistics  of  labor,  of  manufacturing  and  of  municipal  finance, 
and  the  taking  of  the  State  census.  If  the  State  employment 
agencies  are  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  community  their  scope 
and  method  of  organization  must  be  greatly  enlarged.  An 
employment  bureau  should  be  created  under  the  Board  of 
Labor  and  Industries  and  placed  in  charge  of  a  supervisor  of 
employment  who  should  be  especially  qualified  to  develop  this 
work. 

To  accomplish  what  is  possible  in  Massachusetts,  the  impor- 
tance of  the  organization  of  the  labor  market  must  be  recog- 

1  Massachusetts  Acta  «<  ,  1906,  eh.  435;  1909,  eh.  514,  sees.  1-9. 

■  Although  the  report  of  their  work  for  1912  shows  that  42  per  cent  of  tin-  men  end  U  pet  Bent 
of  the  women  who  secured  employment  during  the  year  were  foreign-born  Sixth  Annual  Report 
of  the  Massachusetts  State  Free  Emploi/m  ,  p.  8),  these  were  in  (he  main  the  BniHeh  tpeeV 

ing  foreign-born  who  have  been  in  the  country  for  many  years.  See  comment  on  thifl  in  Bulletin 
of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor,  Misc.  Series  No.  1,  Statistics  of  Unemployment  and  the  Work  of  Em- 
ployment Offices,  p.  68,  and  Rejyort  of  the  Massachusetts  Com  mission  to  inmttigaU  Employment 
Agencies,  p.  88. 


52  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

nized  by  the  public,  and  its  employment  offices  must  no  longer 
be  made  an  additional  burden  to  an  officer  whose  main  efforts 
are  perforce  given  to  work  that  is  only  very  remotely  connected 
with  the  employment  problem.  The  work  of  labor  exchanges 
in  England,  Germany  and  Austria  furnishes  evidence  of  the 
practical  results  of  larger  efforts. 

Section  3.    The  United  States  Division  of  Information  as  an  Agency 

in  Distribution. 

The  United  States  Immigration  Law  of  1907  created  a  "Di- 
vision of  Information"  in  the  Bureau  of  Immigration,  which 
was  designed  "to  promote  a  beneficial  distribution  of  aliens 
admitted  into  the  United  States  among  the  several  States  and 
territories  desiring  immigration."1  This  law  was  undoubtedly 
passed  on  the  theory  that  such  a  bureau  could  so  direct  the 
immigrant  on  landing  that  a  more  uniform  distribution  through- 
out the  United  States  could  be  secured.  But  such  a  plan  does 
not  take  account  of  the  fact  already  referred  to,  that  because 
the  immigrant  usually  comes  to  join  relatives  or  friends  al- 
ready here,  the  field  of  the  government  must  be  redistribution. 

While  the  Division  of  Information  has  done  something  in  fur- 
nishing what  is  relatively  a  very  small  number  of  men  with  in- 
formation about  openings,  particularly  for  farm  laborers,  it  has 
never  been  so  organized  as  to  be  generally  known  by  the  immi- 
grant or  the  employing  public.  Before  its  national  possibilities 
can  be  tested  it  must  be  developed  into  a  labor  exchange  serv- 
ing native  and  immigrant  laborers  who  are  alike  in  need  of 
reliable  advice  as  to  employment  opportunities. 

Secretary  Wilson  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Labor, 
in  an  address  before  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  in 
November,  1913,  declared  that  he  hoped  the  present  ineffective 
Division  of  Information  would  be  enlarged  and  developed  dur- 
ing the  present  administration,  urging  that  the  protection  of  the 
American  workman,  as  well  as  of  the  immigrant,  made  this 
policy  necessary.2 

If  well-organized  State  bureaus  were  co-operating  with  a 
National  Bureau  of  Information  such  as  Secretary  Wilson  de- 

1  S4  United  States  Statutes  at  Large  (1905-1907),  Pt.  I,  ch.  1134,  sec.  40. 

*  Report  of  Proceedings  of  the  Thirty-third  Annual  Convention  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
pp.  176,  177. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  53 

scribed,  unemployment  would  be  greatly  reduced,  and  much  of 
the  wastefulness  of  the  present  maladjustment  could  be  pre- 
vented. The  development  of  this  Division  of  Information  is  a 
federal  matter,  and  therefore  outside  the  scope  of  this  commis- 
sion's work;  so  also  is  federal  regulation  and  supervision  by  the 
United  States  Department  of  Labor  of  private  employment 
agencies  which  are  doing  an  interstate  business.  So  far  as 
Massachusetts  is  concerned  the  commission  recommends:  — 

1.  That  a  State  Bureau  of  Employment  shall  be  organized 
under  the  Board  of  Labor  and  Industries,  and  that  the  super- 
vision of  the  present  State  free  employment  offices  shall  be 
transferred  to  this  Bureau.  A  bill  embodying  these  recommen- 
dations is  submitted  with  this  report.1 

2.  That  the  present  private  Employment  Agency  Law  shall 
be  amended  along  the  lines  suggested  in  this  discussion. 

i  See  p.  226. 


54  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  HOUSING  OF  THE  IMMIGRANT. 

Section  1.    General  Statement. 

To  investigate  the  housing  of  immigrants  throughout  the 
State  was  fortunately  as  unnecessary  as  it  was  impossible  in 
the  time  at  the  disposal  of  this  commission.  Massachusetts  has 
been  making  housing  reports  since  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, when  the  Sanitary  Commission  reported  to  the  State 
Legislature  its  indictment  of  the  inefficient  administration  of 
health  laws  by  local  officials.1 

Recent  investigations  of  housing  conditions  have  been  made 
in  Cambridge,  Fall  River,  Springfield  and  Xewburyport  by 
local  housing  committees,  in  Boston  by  the  1915  committee,  and 
in  Lawrence  by  the  trustees  of  the  White  Fund  in  consultation 
with  the  survey  department  of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation. 
This  last,  which  is  by  far  the  most  comprehensive,  was  under- 
taken by  Lawrence  before  the  recent  strike,  and  was  published 
in  1912.  Kenngott's  "Record  of  a  City"  contains  a  valuable 
chapter  on  the  " Housing  of  the  Operatives"  in  Lowell.2 

Except  for  the  very  general  powers  granted  the  boards  of 
health  there  is  no  State  housing  legislation  in  Massachusetts. 
The  nearest  approach  to  it  are  the  town  and  city  housing  acts 
adopted  by  the  Legislature  in  191 13  and  1912. 4 

Since  these  measures  are  permissive  in  form,  taking  effect 
when  adopted  by  a  locality,  they  constitute  merely  a  standard 
for  housing  legislation  which  has  been  recommended  by  the  State. 
In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1914  these  standardized  require- 
ments had  been  adopted  by  15  towns;5  the  one  for  cities  by 
none  as  yet. 

In  general,  wholly  inadequate  laws  which  are  poorly  enforced 
are  the  rule.  Dark  rooms,  overcrowding,  insanitary  conditions 
are  found  in  Springfield,  Worcester  and  Boston,  as  well  as  in 

1  Report,  of  Massachusetts  Commission  on  a  Sanitary  Survey  of  the  State,  1850. 
:  Kenngott,  George  P.     The  Record  of  a  City,  ch.  III. 

*  Massachusetts  Acts  and  Resolves,  1912,  ch.  G35. 

*  Idem,  1913,  ch.  78G. 

*  Tnese  arc  Arlington,   Belmont,   Braintree,    Lexington,   Milton,    Nahant,    North  Andover, 
Reading,  Stonoharn,  Walpole,  Watertown,  Wenham,  Weston,  Woymouth,  Winthrop. 


Typical  of  the  congestion  which  is  common  in  the  foreign  districts  in  industrial 
cities  and  towns  of  Massachusetts.    (From  Kenngott,  The  Recordofa  City. 

Photograph  No.  20.) 


A  block  in  Lowell  of  forty-eight  tenement-  which  house-  three  hundred  people, 
mainly  French  Canadians.  (From  Kenngott,  Tht  Record  oj  n  City.  Photo- 
graph No.  81.) 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  Xo.  2300.  55 

Holyoke,  Fall  River,  New  Bedford,  Lowell  and  Lynn;  in 
Chicopee,  Ipswich,  Maynard,  Ware  and  Adams,  as  well  as 
in  Barre,  Wilbraham  and  Webster  and  other  cities  and  towns 
in  the  State. 

In  some  of  the  cities  in  which  the  commission  held  hearings 
the  members  of  the  local  boards  of  health  were  found  to  be  ig- 
norant of  the  law  which  they  were  supposed  to  be  enforcing, 
and  of  the  conditions  they  should  have  been  trying  to  correct, 
and  so  were  without  any  program.  In  other  cases  the  Board  of 
Health  was  really  hard  at  work  on  the  problem,  but  found  the 
difficulties  greater  than  it  could  overcome. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  manufacturing  many  employing  cor- 
porations provided  shelter  and  sometimes  board  for  their  em- 
ployees, and  this  is  still  done  to  some  extent.1  Creditable 
instances  occur  of  decent  accommodations  at  reasonable  cost 
provided  by  a  company  for  its  employees,  as  an  enlightened 
self-interest  alone  might  often  dictate. 

Experience,  some  of  it  very  bitter,  has,  however,  pretty  gen- 
erally convinced  employers,  employees  and  the  public  at  large 
that  it  is  contrary  to  public  policy  to  have  one  body  of  men 
at  once  the  employers  and  the  landlords  of  others.  The  powers 
thus  combined  in  one  control  can  be  made  to  buttress  one  an- 
other  in  ways  which  create  much  bad  feeling  if  not  actual  hard- 
ship. We  believe,  therefore,  that  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
the  policy  of  corporation-owned  tenements  is  outlived. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  ownership  of  his  own  home  by  the 
employee,  the  ideal  of  an  earlier  generation,  is  of  questionable 
advantage  under  modern  conditions.  The  man  who  owns  his 
home,  while  more  independent  in  time  of  strike  than  the 
tenant  of  an  employer,  is  even  more  than  the  renter  a  sufferer 
from  prolonged  local  depression. 

This  is  peculiarly  the  case  where  a  single  concern  is  the 
source  of  practically  all  local  employment.  There  are  few  more 
tragic  plights  than  that  of  the  men  who  have  sunk  the  little 
savings  of  long  years  of  self-denial  in  investments  in  an  in- 
dustrially dead  locality. 

1  Of  the  1,217  manufacturers  who  replied  to  the  questions  sent  out  by  the  commission,  122,  or 
a  little  more  than  10  per  cent,  reported  that  they  furnish  board,  lodging  or  houses  for  their  em- 
ployees. Of  these  122,  inufacturers  of  cotton  goods  and  45  of  woolen  goods.  Only  ."> 
of  the  122  companies  make  patronage  of  the  company  houses  a  condition  of  employment.  Thir- 
teen, however,  reported  that  their  employees  are  practically  obligod  to  live  in  the  companv  houses, 
because  others  are  not  available. 


56  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

However  this  may  be,  in  practice  the  immigrant  does  and 
must  in  most  cases  hire  his  home,  whether  cottage  or  rooms  in 
a  tenement  house.  The  speculative  builder,  as  experience  in 
every  industrial  community  has  demonstrated  ad  nauseam,  is 
not  to  be  trusted  to  build  wisely  or  even  in  any  true  sense 
economically.  The  way  out  would  appear  to  be  for  the  em- 
ployers to  set  on  foot  and  finance  building  of  homes,  planned  on 
an  adequate  scale  and  on  modern  lines  of  construction,  and 
managed  on  business  principles  through  an  independent  body  of 
trustees.  Whether  or  not  the  interest  on  the  investment  should 
be  limited  to  5  per  cent  and  the  surplus  devoted  to  improve- 
ments and  fresh  building,  and  whether  co-operative  features 
might  be  introduced,  are  questions  well  worth  consideration. 
But  the  main  thing  is  to  secure  freedom  from  control  by  the 
employing  corporation  management  (so  that,  for  instance,  no 
pressure  on  its  behalf  would  be  brought  to  bear  on  tenants 
on  strike)  and  at  the  same  time  to  enlist  the  moral  and  finan- 
cial backing  of  the  men  most  interested  in  the  upbuilding  of 
the  town  and  in  the  provision  of  good  homes  for  their  workers. 

But  private  undertakings  of  this  sort  would  in  no  degree  re- 
lieve the  public  of  its  responsibility  for  the  enforcement  of  de- 
cent housing  regulations.  Local  control  has  been  found  woefully 
inadequate  in  many  parts  of  Massachusetts.  The  reason  for 
this  has  been  nowhere  more  forcibly  stated  than  in  the  Law- 
rence survey,  which  was  made,  it  should  be  remembered,  on 
that  city's  own  initiative. 

"The  citizens  with  influence  and  civic  ideals  are  too  few,"  it 
declares.  "Many  cities  have  such  economic  balance  within 
themselves  that  they  are  far  more  integers  than  Lawrence,  and 
far  better  able  to  take  care  of  themselves.  The  city  is  woe- 
fully weak  because  there  is  lacking  in  the  control  of  its  civic 
affairs  the  direct  sense  of  shame  and  personal  responsibility  and 
the  efficient,  public-spirited,  controlling  interest  which  the  mill- 
owning  families  would  have  if  they  were  residents.  Because 
the  mill  owners  live  outside  of  the  city  the  housing  problem  is  a 
State  problem,  and  can  be  solved  only  by  State  legislation."1 
"With  unusually  strong  religious  prejudices  and  race  hatreds, 
and  with  the  absence  of  those  who  conduct  its  chief  enterprises, 

1  The  Report  of  the  Lawrence  Survey,  p.  111. 


Homes  of  Poles  in  Mavnard.    Corporation-owned  houses  known  as  "  Railroad  Row." 


Flag  Chelsea  forgotten  the  Are? 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2:500.  57 

such  a  community  would  seem  to  have  the  chances  all  against 
its  being  able  to  cure  itself."1 

Various  excuses  for  intolerable  housing  conditions  were 
offered  the  commission;  in  many  cases  low  wages;  in  others, 
speculative  building,  excessive  rents  and  neglect  on  the  part  of 
the  landlords;  in  still  others  the  immigrant  was  described  as 
preferring  the  darkness,  filth  and  squalor  in  which  he  was  some- 
times found.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  as  long 
as  the  community  tolerates  bad  housing  so  that  underpaid  work- 
men can  be  accommodated,  the  workmen  will  continue  to  be 
underpaid;  as  long  as  it  protects  the  profits  of  neglect  and  bad 
building  construction,  many  landlords  will  continue  to  profit  by 
this  public  tolerance  and  to  invest  further  capital  in  buildings 
which  will  be  a  permanent  menace  to  health  and  morals. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  teaching  the  immigrant 
American  standards.  This  teaching  begins  with  his  experience 
with  Massachusetts  housing  laws,  and  it  is  idle  to  imagine 
that  he  will  believe  that  we  have  desirable  standards  of  health 
and  cleanliness,  when  too  often  the  America  which  he  knows  is 
so  intolerably  dirty;  or  that  law  is  respected  in  the  United 
States  when  he  sees  it  flagrantly  violated  on  every  side. 

According  to  one  authority  the  industrial  city  or  town  is, 
"baldly  stated,  a  tool  room  attached  to  a  workshop."  The 
State  makes  itself  responsible  for  the  enforcement  of  sanitary 
conditions  in  the  workshop,  but  leaves  to  the  local  community 
the  care  of  the  tool  room.  This  commission,  therefore,  be- 
lieves that  even  if  the  standard  housing  laws  which  the  State 
has  recommended  for  local  adoption  were  universally  in  force, 
voluntarily  or  by  compulsion,  there  would  remain  the  need  for 
State  supervision  of  the  enforcement  of  these  laws.  For  this,  a 
permanent  State  Housing  Commissioner,  with  broad  powers  and 
an  adequate  number  of  inspectors,  is  absolutely  essential. 

In  addition  to  calling  attention  to  the  general  need  of  State 
responsibility  for  the  enforcement  of  housing  regulations  the 
commission  wishes  to  present  especially  three  aspects  of  housing 
which  are  peculiarly  immigrant  problems,  and  which  are  not 
usually  so  considered.  These  are  the  problems  of  the  immigrant 
lodger,  of  the  so-called  non-family  groups  of  immigrant  men, 

1  The  Report  of  (he  Lawrence  Surrey,  p.  114. 


58  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

and  of  the  living  conditions  in  construction  camps  and  other 
places  where  laborers  are  temporarily  housed  in  large  numbers. 

The  Immigrant  Lodger. 

To  discuss  this  and  most  of  the  other  problems  of  the  immi- 
grant intelligently  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  a  very  large 
per  cent  of  the  newcomers  are  young  people;  also  that  a  very 
large  number  are  men  who  either  are  unmarried  or  have  left 
their  wives  behind  them  when  they  started  out  on  the  American 
experiment.  Many  of  the  young  women  from  Austria,  Hun- 
gary and  Russia  come  as  pioneers,  expecting  to  bring  over  the 
other  members  of  their  families  on  their  savings.  The  rela- 
tives and  friends  to  whom  they  come  have  themselves  usually 
been  here  only  a  short  time,  and  have  as  yet  had  no  chance  to 
"make  good."  In  many  cases  these  relatives  or  friends  expect 
to  assist  them  in  finding  a  boarding  place  and  a  first  job,  and 
after  that  the  girls  are  entirely  dependent  on  their  own  resources. 

These  young  immigrant  men  and  women  constitute  the  de- 
mand which  makes  the  "lodger  problem"  in  our  foreign 
colonies.  In  the  mill  town  the  wife  chooses  between  taking 
in  lodgers  or  working  in  the  mill  as  a  means  of  supplementing 
her  husband's  insufficient  wage.  Sometimes,  however,  the 
reason  for  taking  lodgers  is  not  stern  necessity  but  the  desire 
to  make  payments  on  a  house  that  is  being  purchased;  in 
some  instances  it  may  be  to  add  to  the  bank  balance  because 
of  greed;  but  in  many  more  the  reason  is  that  the  immigrant 
sees  that  the  only  possible  release  for  himself  and  his  family 
from  their  present  conditions  is  the  accumulation  of  some 
money  "for  a  start." 

In  many  cases  the  lodger  is  received  into  an  already  over- 
crowded household  out  of  kindliness,  because  he  comes  from 
the  same  country,  and  the  older  people  remember  how  forlorn 
they  were  on  arrival.  But  whatever  their  motive  the  unat- 
tached immigrant  has  only  two  alternatives.  He  must 
either  become  a  boarder  in  a  household,  or,  with  a  group 
of  others,  start  co-operative  housekeeping,  forming  what  hous- 
ing reports  call  a  "non-family  group."  The  latter  is  fre- 
quently done  by  the  men  and  will  be  discussed  later. 

The  housing  of  the  unmarried  immigrant  woman  is  a  special 
problem  which  has  received  as  yet  little  consideration. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


59 


Section  2.    The  Immigrant  Girl  and  the  Lodger  Problem. 

How  large  a  group  the  immigrant  girls  constitute  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  during  the  year  ended  June  30,  1912,  93,267 
unmarried  girls  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  twenty-one 
were  admitted  to  the  United  States  as  immigrants.1  Of  this 
number  approximately  7,832  2  were  destined  to  Massachusetts. 
The  following  table  shows  their  nationality:  — 


Table  5.  —  Approximate  Number  of  Single  Female  Immigrants  Fourteen 
to  Twenty-one  Years  of  Age  admitted  during  the  Year  ended  June 
30,  1912,  and  destined  to  Massachusetts,  by  Race  or  People* 


Race  or  People. 


Number  of 
Sinele  Females 

Fourteen 

to  Twenty-one 

Years. 


English-speaking:  — 

English,  Scotch  and  Welsh, 

Irish, 

Total,  English-speaking, 
Xon-English  speaking:  — 

Polish, 

Italian, 

Jewish, 

Lithuanian, 

Portuguese, 

Scandinavian, 

French, 

Finnish, 

Ruthenian, 

Greek, 

Russian, 

German, 

Others, 

Total  non-English  speaking, 
Total  number  admitted, 


539 
1,244 


1,765 
SS5 
785 
531 
419 
285 
253 
241 
161 
123 
115 
9* 
392 


1,783 


6,0-19 
7,832 


1  Annval  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioncr-General\of  Immigration,  1912,  p.  79,  Tablo  VII  B. 

*  This  statement  and  the  tablo  are  based  on  the  assumption  that  in  each  nationality  the  pro- 
portion of  single  females  fourteen  to  twenty-one  years  of  age  was  the  same  for  the  immigrants 
destined  to  Massachusetts  as  for  those  admitted  to  the  United  States  3s  a  whole. 

3  Compiled  from  Annual  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  1912,  p.  78, 
Table  VII  B;  p.  89,  Table  IX.  In  the  reports  of  the'.U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigra- 
tion, Canadians  are  classified  as  English  or  Ficnch. 


60  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

According  to  these  figures,  during  one  year,  6,049  non- 
English  speaking  girls  came  to  Massachusetts,  as  compared 
with  1,783  who  were  English-speaking.  Of  the  former  the 
Polish,  numbering  1,765,  constituted  by  far  the  largest  element. 

Among  these  girls  are  many  in  every  nationality  wTho  are 
coming  to  relatives  or  friends  who  can  provide  the  care  and 
protection  they  need,  but  many  of  them  come  to  live  with 
strangers  upon  whom  they  have  no  claim  and  who  in  many 
cases  themselves  emigrated  only  a  year  or  two  before. 

Congestion  Morally  Dangerous  to  the  Immigrant  Girl. 

Because  more  men  than  women  come,  those  families  with 
whom  they  live  usually  have,  in  addition  to  the  girl,  three  or 
four  men  boarders.  These  young  men  and  women  have  come 
from  family  life  in  a  rural  community  in  Europe  to  absolutely 
new  conditions  of  overcrowding,  lack  of  privacy,  and  freedom 
from  parental  and  community  restraint.  The  following  typical 
cases  show  what  some  of  the  conditions  are :  — 

In  a  dilapitated  tenement,  where  the  rain  comes  in  through  the  walls 
and  ceiling,  a  family  of  seven  have  an  apartment  of  four  rooms,  with  two 
men  lodgers  and  one  woman.  There  is  one  toilet  in  the  basement  for 
the  thirty-two  persons  who  live  in  the  building.  This  girl  is  eighteen 
and  speaks  very  little  English,  although  she  has  been  here  two  years. 
She  has  not  been  to  night  school  because  she  has  been  afraid  "of  being 
treated  badly  by  the  men;"  but  she  is  entirely  ignorant  of  the  danger 
in  her  living  conditions. 

A  Jewish  girl  of  eighteen,  who  has  been  here  seven  months,  works  in 
a  button  factory,  has  already  learned  a  little  English  and  boards  with  a 
family  of  seven,  which  has  also  two  men  lodgers. 

A  Lithuanian  girl  has  lived  for  four  years  in  a  family  of  three  who  have 
four  rooms  and  eight  lodgers,  five  men  and  three  women.  This  girl  works 
as  a  stitcher  in  a  tailor  shop.  She  started  to  go  to  night  school  when  she 
first  came,  but  the  landlady  objected  as  she  wanted  her  to  help  with  the 
housework  in  the  evening. 

A  sixteen-year-old  Jewish  girl  came  with  her  father,  but  is  not  living 
in  the  same  house  with  him.  She  is  lodging  in  a  house  where  there  are 
four  in  the  family,  three  men  lodgers  and  herself,  all  in  five  rooms. 

A  Lithuanian  girl,  who  was  eighteen  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  her 
arrival,  has  been  in  this  country  four  years.  She  worked  for  the  first  two 
months  in  a  stocking  factory  for  $2  a  week,  and  since  then  has  been  in 
a  brush  factory  raining  $7  a  week.  She  has  lived  in  three  different  places 
since  coming  to  this  country.     In  the  first  place,  there  were  five  rooms, 


A  dark  bedroom.    (From  Aronovici,  Housing 

('outfit ions  iii  Fall  Hirer.) 


A  bedroom  whose  only  window  opens  against 
an     adjoining  wall.       (From    Aronovici, 

Housing   Conditions  in    Fall   Hirer.) 


'*#?-^SfiHI 


Tenements  on  the  canal  in  Lowell  on  the  edge  of  the  (.reck  colony.    |  From  a.  nngott, 
Fin  Record  of  a  City,    Photograph  No.  82.) 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  61 

four  in  the  family,  and  two  men  and  two  women  lodgers;  in  the  second 
place,  there  were  four  rooms,  three  in  the  family,  and  two  men  and  two 
women  lodgers.  At  present  she  is  living  in  a  tenement  of  five  rooms  with 
a  family  of  three,  who  have  three  men  and  one  woman  lodger. 

A  Polish  girl  of  eighteen  who  has  been  in  America  four  months,  having 
borrowed  her  passage  money  from  her  brother  in  this  country,  is  lodging 
with  a  family  of  four  who  live  in  four  rooms  with  five  lodgers,  three  men 
and  two  women.  This  girl  is  working  seven  days  a  week,  washing  cars 
in  the  railroad  yards  in  Boston. 

Although  few  Italian  girls  come  alone,  the  following  case 
was  taken  from  the  personal  history  schedules  of  the  com- 
mission: — 

Two  cousins,  each  sixteen  years  old,  have  been  here  two  months. 
They  came  alone,  and  are  working  in  a  candy  factor}-.  Both  gave  as  the 
reason  for  their  coming  the  financial  conditions  of  their  families  in  Italy. 
They  lodge  in  an  apartment  of  three  rooms  with  a  family  of  six,  with 
whom  also  live  two  men  lodgers. 

There  are  certain  housing  conditions  prevalent  among  the 
Greeks  which  are  different  from  those  just  described,  but 
quite  as  dangerous.  In  mill  towns  where  there  are  large 
numbers  of  young  Greek  people  without  their  families  it  is 
not  uncommon  for  a  group  of  young  men  and  women  to  have 
an  apartment  together  on  a  sort  of  co-operative  plan.  Some- 
times a  brother  and  sister  are  the  basis  of  the  arrangement, 
or  some  of  the  young  people  may  be  cousins. 

For  instance,  in  a  mill  town  which  has  one  of  the  largest  Greek  colonies 
in  Massachusetts,  in  the  downstairs  tenement  of  a  two-story  house  is 
a  group  of  eight  young  people  living  in  this  way.  There  are  four  girls 
ranging  from  sixteen  to  twenty-four  years  of  age,  and  four  men.  They 
have  two  rooms  and  a  kitchen.  The  apartment  is  clean  and  orderly. 
Two  of  the  girls  are  sisters  and  have  been  here  eight  jrears,  taking 
care  of  themselves  quite  successfully,  though  they  have  no  relatives  in 
this  country. 

In  securing  personal  history  schedules  in  immigrant  neighbor- 
hoods, the  commission  found  that  out  of  750  households 
378  had  boarders  or  lodgers,  and  in  124  of  these  there  were 
both  men  and  women.1  The  number  of  rooms  occupied  by 
these  124  households  in  which  both  men  and  women  lodgers 
were  found   is  shown   by  the   following  table:  — 

e  Appendix  a. 


62 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Table  6.  —  Households  in  which  Both  Men  and  Women  Lodgers  lived. 
Number  of  Roo?ns  in  Apartment,  together  with  Number  of  Persons. 


X iimher  of  Rooms  in  Apartment,  |     2. 

3- 

4. 

5. 

6.         7. 

8  or  more. 

Total 
Number 

Number  of  Persons. 

Number  of  . 

\PARTMEVTS 

of 
Apart- 
ments. 

3, 

- 

- 

- 

- 

1 

- 

- 

1 

4, 

- 

2 

1 

- 

- 

- 

- 

3 

5, 

- 

2 

4 

2 

1 

- 

- 

9 

6, 

- 

2 

0 

2 

1 

- 

1 

11 

7, 

- 

- 

1 

5 

2 

- 

- 

8 

8, 

- 

- 

5 

10 

6 

1 

1 

23 

9, 

1 

1 

8 

6 

o 

- 

1 

20 

10. 

- 

1 

7 

6 

4 

- 

1 

19 

11, 

- 

- 

- 

2 

4 

- 

- 

6 

12, 

- 

- 

1 

3 

3 

- 

- 

7 

13, 

1 

- 

- 

2 

1 

- 

2 

6 

H, 

- 

- 

- 

1 

1 

- 

2 

4 

15  or  more, 

1 

- 

- 

1 

1 

1 

3 

7 

Tot 

il. 

3 

3 

32 

40 

28 

2 

11 

124 

According  to  these  figures,  in  one  instance  ten  persons, 
including  young  men  and  women  lodgers,  were  found  living 
in  three  rooms;  there  was  one  case  of  twelve  persons  in  four 
rooms;  and  one  case  of  fifteen  persons  in  five  rooms.  But 
more  appalling  still  are  two  cases,  one  of  thirteen  and  another 
of  fifteen  persons  living  in  two  rooms. 

Of  the  65  single  women  who  were  found  by  the  commission 
living  in  the  same  households  with  men  lodgers,  45,  or  nearly 
70  per  cent,  were  girls  under  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Of 
these,  four  were  only  sixteen,  eight  were  seventeen,  and  thirteen 
were  eighteen  years  of  age. 

Among  immigrant  communities  there  are  many  "causes" 
which  explain  the  unmarried  mother.  Because  of  her  ignorance 
of  English  she  is  less  able  to  protect  herself  than  the  American 
country  girl,  whose  helplessness  has  been  so  often  emphasized. 
Near  an  immigrant  neighborhood,  if  at  all,  the  disreputable 
saloon,  dance  hall  and  hotel  are  usually  tolerated,  so  that 
the  environment  to  which  the  immigrant  girl  comes   has  dan- 


1914.]  HOUSE  — Xo.  2300. 

gers  of  which  she  is  entirely  ignorant.  Her  recreational  needs 
are  less  understood  than  are  those  of  the  native-born  American, 
and  the  break  with  her  old-world  traditions  has  left  her  with 
fewer  standards  of  judgment.  Altogether  she  is  in  many  ways 
an  easy  victim  of  the  unscrupulous.  But  in  the  housing 
conditions  just  described  the  lack  of  privacy  and  of  the 
restraints  which  privacy  brings,  may  be,  with  entire  absence 
of  evil  intent,  the  sole  cause  of  her  ruin.  In  the  records  of 
the  State  Reformatory  at  Sherborn,  of  the  State  Infirmary 
at  Tewksbury,  of  the  social  service  department  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital,  and  of  other  private  agencies, 
abundant  evidence  of  this  was  found.  The  following  typical 
cases  were  selected :  — 

A  Finnish  girl  of  twenty-six  came  to  a  Massachusetts  mill  town  alone, 
leaving  a  mother  in  Finland  dependent  on  what  the  girl  was  able  to  earn 
in  America,  so  she  has  sent  money  regularly  to  her  mother.  The  landlady 
at  her  lodging  house  is  practically  her  only  friend.  The  father  of  her 
illegitimate  child  lived  in  the  same  lodging  house  and  is  from  "near  home" 
in  Finland.  He  disappeared  when  her  condition  was  discovered,  although 
he  had  promised  to  marry  her,  and  she  was  left  terrified  by  her  lack  of 
friends  and  her  new  responsibilities.  Another  girl  came  from  Russia 
with  her  family  four  years  ago.  There  are  six  in  the  family  and  they 
had  three  lodgers,  two  men  and  one  girl,  in  a  tenement  of  three  rooms. 
The  congestion  made  the  tragedy  for  both  girls  almost  inevitable. 

This  overcrowding  does  not  necessarily  lead  to  disastrous 
results  in  the  very  houses  where  it  exists,  but  it  brings  about 
a  certain  carelessness  and  familiarity  which  make  other  con- 
ditions dangerous  as  well. 

A  Polish  girl  left  the  old  country  when  she  was  nineteen  and  came  to 
a  cousin  in  Lawrence.  Her  mother  is  dead  and  her  father  is  in  Russia. 
The  cousin  is  a  married  woman  and  paid  the  girl's  passage  to  America. 
She  worked  in  a  mill  as  a  spinner,  and  as  long  as  she  lived  with  her  cousin 
everything  went  well.  During  a  strike  in  the  mills  she  went  to  Boston 
and  lived  in  a  lodging  house,  where,  among  other  lodgers,  lived  the  man 
who  is  the  father  of  her  illegitimate  child. 

A  Polish  girl  of  nineteen,  who  has  been  in  America  two  years,  working 
in  a  restaurant  in  Boston,  lodges  in  an  apartment  of  four  rooms,  where 
a  Polish  man  and  his  wife  have  four  men  and  nine  girl  lodgers.  She  came 
from  Europe  alone,  expecting  to  be  with  her  father,  but  he  had  gone  to 
Canada,  and  she  was  obliged  to  rind  a  lodging  place  and  begin  to  work 


64  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

immediately.    She  has  an  illegitimate  child  by  a  man  who  was  a  lodger 
in  the  same  house,  and  who  came  from  the  same  village  in  Poland. 

A  Lithuanian  girl  of  eighteen  has  been  here  one  year  and  a  half,  but 
speaks  no  English.  In  her  boarding  house  there  were  four  rooms,  three 
persons  in  the  family,  and  eight  men  and  eight  women  lodgers.  She  has 
an  illegitimate  child  who  was  born  at  the  lodging  house.  Recently  the 
girl  went  to  live  with  a  sister  so  that  she  can  keep  the  child  with  her. 

Although  the  promise  of  marriage  is  a  factor  in  cases  of 
betrayal  of  American  girls,  it  is  especially  easy  to  mislead  the 
foreign  girls  in  this  way  because  of  their  ignorance  of  American 
customs. 

There  are  also  the  cases  where  under  some  special  strain  or 
excitement,  as  for  example,  after  a  wedding  or  dance,  when 
liquor  has  been  freely  used,  barriers  of  moral  restraint  are 
broken  down.  This  occurs  most  frequently  in  the  homes  that 
are  overcrowded,  and  where  in  consequence  a  spirit  of  familiar- 
ity has  developed. 

That  the  housing  conditions  described  in  the  first  part  of 
this  section  must  almost  inevitably  produce  these  results  in 
many  cases  no  one  would  question.  The  point  that  should 
be  emphasized  is  that  at  present  there  seems  to  be  no  con- 
structive program  for  the  protection  of  these  girls  from  the 
very  obvious  danger  in  their  living  conditions.  Enforcement 
of  decent  housing  standards  will  reduce  the  overcrowding,  but 
it  will  still  leave  the  immigrant  girl  open  to  a  kind  of  tempta- 
tion to  which  we  know  that  no  girl  should  be  exposed.  Private 
agencies  have  long  been  at  work  on  the  problem  of  providing 
boarding  clubs  for  the  American  country  girl  who  invades 
the  city  and  the  industrial  town.  But  these  agencies  have 
not  entered  this  field.  They  have  not  developed  a  means  of 
handling  the  immigrant  girl  or  the  larger  groups  of  single 
immigrant  men. 

Section  3.    Non-family  Groups  of  Men. 

For  the  men  the  only  alternative  to  the  lodging  house  is  co- 
operative housekeeping  in  non-family  groups,  —  an  arrange- 
ment even  more  unsatisfactory  so  far  as  the  health  and  morals 
of  the  young  men  are  concerned.  For  this  reason  the  majority 
of  Poles,  Lithuanians  and  Italians  in  Massachusetts  choose  to 


House  in  Worcester  occupied  by  "  non-family  group  "  of  twenty  Greeks. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  65 

lodge  with  their  married  friends.  Among  certain  nationalities 
of  recent  immigration,  however,  the  opportunities  for  lodging 
with  families  are  rare,  owing  to  the  very  small  percentage  of 
women  in  this  country.  This  was  found  to  be  especially  true  in 
Massachusetts  of  the  Armenians,  the  Greeks  and  the  Turks. 

During  the  three  years  between  July  1,  1910,  and  June  30, 
1913,  4,500  Armenians,  15,703  Greeks  and  1,320  Turks  who 
were  admitted  to  the  United  States  gave  Massachusetts  as  their 
destination.1  Of  the  total  number  of  Armenians  admitted  to  the 
United  States,  in  one  year,2  86  per  cent  were  males;  of  the 
Greeks,  90  per  cent;  and  of  the  Turks,  94  per  cent. 

In  the  last  three  years,  therefore,  approximately  3,870  Ar- 
menian men  came  to  Massachusetts  as  compared  with  630 
Armenian  women;  approximately  14,133  Greek  men  as  com- 
pared with  1,570  Greek  women;  and  1,241  Turkish  men  as  com- 
pared with  79  Turkish  women.3 

It  is  natural  that  among  immigrants  who  have  come  from 
countries  where  the  present  emigration  is  comparatively  new 
the  number  of  males  should  be  far  in  excess  of  the  number  of 
females.  Single  men  are,  of  course,  the  most  free  to  come. 
Married  men  come  first  alone  and  try  the  experiment  of 
life  in  this  country  before  sending  for  their  wives  and  children. 
Moreover,  wherever  the  immigration  is  to  some  extent  tempo- 
rary, and  men  come  with  the  idea  of  returning  to  their  homes 
in  the  future,  these  men  are  of  course  unlikely  to  bring  their 
families  with  them.  The  newness  of  the  immigration  is  in  part 
responsible  for  the  present  conditions  among  the  Armenians  and 
the  Greeks,  and  so  the  preponderance  of  the  men  over  the 
women  is,  more  or  less,  a  temporary  condition,  which,  to  some 
extent,  will  be  remedied  by  time.  The  Turks,  on  the  other 
hand,  have  strong,  permanent  motives  in  their  religion  and  in 
their  attitude  toward  women  for  not  wishing  to  bring  their 
wives  to  this  country. 

In  the  investigation  of  the  commission,  35  non-family  groups 

1  Compiled  from  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  1911, 
1«12  and  1913. 

*  Annual  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  1912,  p.  74. 

1  These  figures  are  based  on  the  assumption  that  the  ratio  of  the  sexes  was  the  same  for  those 
destined  for  Massachusetts  as  for  those  admitted  to  the  United  States  as  a  whole.  On  account 
of  the  wars  there  has  been  considerable  emigration  among  the  Greoks  and  the  Turks  from  the 
United  States  during  the  last  year  or  two,  bo  that  these  figures  are  not  to  be  taken  a*  representing 
the  net  increase  in  the  numbers  of  those  nationalities  in  Massachusetts. 


66  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

were  studied,  representing  a  total  of  over  300  men.  Twenty- 
three  of  the  groups  were  Greek,  nine  were  Armenian,  and  three, 
Turkish.  They  were  located  in  the  larger  cities,  —  Boston, 
Worcester,  Springfield  and  Lynn,  —  and  in  the  smaller  cities 
or  towns,  —  Chicopee,  Stoneham,  Ipswich  and  Northbridge. 
The  conditions  found  are  believed  to  be  typical  of  hundreds  of 
such  groups  throughout  the  State. 

Nearly  all  the  Armenians,  many  of  whom  had  come  to  this 
country  to  escape  persecution  or  to  avoid  serving  in  the  Turkish 
army,  expected  to  remain  here.  Many  now  living  in  non- 
family  groups  were  planning  to  send  for  their  wives  within  a 
short  time,  and  a  considerable  number  were  already  naturalized 
or  had  declared  their  intention  of  becoming  citizens.  Most  of 
the  Greeks  living  in  non-family  groups  had  come  to  the  United 
States  for  economic  reasons,  and  were  uncertain  as  to  whether 
or  not  they  would  remain  here  permanently,  for  loyalty  to  their 
home  country  is  strong  among  them.  The  Turks  had  come 
for  the  definite  purpose  of  making  money  to  take  back  home. 
They  are  hard-working  and  economical,  but  have  little  interest 
in  learning  English  or  in  sharing  in  the  civic  life.  The  great 
majority  of  the  Turks  were  married;  among  the  Greeks  many 
more  were  young  single  men,  scarcely  more  than  boys.  Most 
of  the  Armenians  and  Turks  living  in  such  groups  are  unskilled 
laborers,  earning  from  $8  to  $12  a  week;  a  good  many  are  in 
large  machine  works.  Among  the  Greeks,  the  occupations  are 
more  varied.  Some  are  in  shoe  factories,  some  in  restaurants, 
some  in  shoe-shine  parlors. 

The  method  of  living  is  similar.  The  men  hire  an  apartment, 
or  sometimes  a  house,  and  share  the  rent,  which  generally 
amounts  to  between  SI. 50  and  $2.50  a  month  for  each.  Some- 
times one  of  the  men  acts  as  boss,  and  runs  the  apartment  for 
the  others,  cooking  the  meals  himself  perhaps.  A  few  in- 
stances were  found  where  the  boss  was  married,  or  where  his 
sister  lived  with  him.  In  three  of  the  23  Greek  groups  visited, 
a  woman  was  living.  In  the  Armenian  groups  visited,  no 
women  lived,  while  in  the  whole  Turkish  colony  at  Worcester, 
of  400  or  more  men,  there  is  probably  not  one  Turkish  woman. 

Occasionally,  the  men  club  together  and  hire  a  cook,  each 
paying  usually  $1   a  month.     In  most  of  the  groups  visited, 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  67 

however,  the  men  do  their  own  cooking,  either  acting  each  one 
as  his  own  commissary,  or  taking  turns  at  buying  and  cooking 
the  food.  Occasionally,  especially  among  the  Greeks,  the  men 
eat  at  restaurants  or  coffee-houses. 

As  is  to  be  expected  under  the  circumstances,  the  living  and 
sleeping  conditions  of  these  men  are  far  from  good.  In  most 
cases  economy  leads  them  to  choose  houses  for  which  rents  are 
low,  and  which  consequently  are  often  in  a  most  dilapidated 
condition.  These  houses  are  planned  for  a  family  of  four  or 
five  persons,  and  are  totally  unsuited  for  the  purposes  to  which 
they  are  put.  The  sanitary  conditions  are  far  from  adequate; 
the  furnishings  are  often  the  poorest  possible.  Moreover,  as 
the  rooms  receive  the  minimum  of  care  and  attention  from  the 
men,  the  apartments  are  seldom  clean  and  are  sometimes 
filthy.  The  sleeping  quarters  are,  of  course,  crowded.  Fre- 
quently the  floor  is  covered  with  mattresses  and  pillows,  and 
clothes  are  scattered  about  the  rooms.  Among  the  Turks  beds 
are  seldom  used. 

It  is  generally  impossible  to  do  more  than  estimate  the  size 
of  the  group,  as  the  men  understate  the  number.  Police  and 
health  officers  testify  that  day  and  night  shifts  are  frequently 
found.  In  one  case  an  investigator  was  told  that  a  house  of 
seven  rooms  was  occupied  by  fourteen  Turks,  sleeping  two  in  a 
room.  On  a  visit  at  five  in  the  afternoon  he  found  eighteen  men 
who  apparently  lived  there,  while  four  others  who  worked  at 
night  were  sleeping  in  an  adjoining  room.  Making  a  night  in- 
spection, he  discovered  seventeen  men  occupying  the  seven 
rooms.  This  investigation  was  made  by  the  commission  early 
in  the  autumn.  In  the  winter,  when  the  men  drift  back  to  the 
cities  of  Massachusetts  from  construction  work  all  over  New 
England,  the  numbers  are  greatly  augmented. 

The  solution  usually  suggested  for  these  conditions  is  a  good 
housing  law  properly  enforced.  This  is,  of  course,  necessary, 
and  cannot  be  too  strongly  urged,  but  to  meet  the  social  needs 
of  this  group  of  young  foreign  men  and  women  something  more 
is  necessary.  With  the  men  in  the  non-family  groups  the  most 
serious  difficulty  is  their  general  forlornness.  They  do  not 
touch  the  outside  world,  they  have  no  normal  family  or  social 
relationships  in  their  own  group,  they  work  long  hours  for  low 


68  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

wages  and  are  open  to  every  temptation.  That  abnormal  vice 
develops  dangerously  among  them  is  not  surprising. 

Most  people  appreciate  the  dangers  and  temptations  which 
American  country  girls  or  young  men  face  in  the  change  from 
rural  to  city  life,  and  many  agencies  are  at  work  on  the  problem 
of  their  proper  housing  and  recreation.  For  these  young  immi- 
grants the  dangers  are  more  serious  because  the  change  is  even 
greater,  and  the  crisis  they  are  facing  is  therefore  more  difficult. 
So  far  as  their  housing  conditions  are  concerned,  the  young  men, 
as  we  have  said,  must  choose  the  demoralizing  non-family 
groups  or  a  household  which  can  hardly  be  so  equipped  as  to 
offer  men  and  women  lodgers  proper  protection.  For  this  reason 
it  is  necessary,  as  Mr.  Veiller  of  the  National  Housing  Asso- 
ciation points  out,  to  "recognize  that  there  is  need  of  some 
place  in  which  the  large  number  of  single  men  that  come  to 
our  shores  .  .  .  can  be  cheaply  lodged.  .  .  .  Where  there  is  a 
considerable  alien  population  we  must  carefully  find  out  the 
facts  as  to  the  need  of  housing  accommodations  for  single 
laborers  of  this  kind,  and  see  to  it  that  lodging  houses  of  the 
very  best  type  are  provided  for  their  accommodations,  placing 
one  of  these  in  each  alien  center,  and  not  attempting  to  house 
the  various  races  in  the  same  house."1 

The  "corporation  boarding  house"  which  the  mills  used  to 
provide  for  their  employees  is  not  now,  for  the  reasons  al- 
ready given,  regarded  as  the  solution  of  the  difficulty  by  leaders 
in  social  and  industrial  questions.  Even  less  can  speculative 
builders  be  trusted.  Ultimately,  municipally  owned  lodging 
houses,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  provided.  But,  to  quote  again 
from  Mr.  Veiller,  there  is  for  the  present  "a  great  oppor- 
tunity for  our  philanthropists.  It  is  pioneer  work.  The 
ground  has  yet  to  be  broken  from  the  very  beginning.2  We 
have  yet  to  learn  what  is  the  best  type  of  lodging  house  to 
build;  the  whole  question  is  still  to  be  studied  in  all  its  as- 
pects." 3  Instead,  however,  of  the  special  attention  which 
should  be  given  to  men  living  under  these  abnormal  condi- 
tions,  the  commission  found  that  the  communities   in  which 

1  Veiller,  Lawrence,  Room   Overcrowding  and  the  Lodger  Evil.     National  Housing  Association 
Publications,  No.  18,  pp.  14,  15. 

2  In  a  few  places  boarding  clubs  for  their  mon  employees  have   recently  been  built  by  manu- 
facturing concerns.    These  are,  however,  generally  reserved  for  the  Americans  or  older  immigrants. 

*  Veiller,  Lawrence,  Room  Overcrowding  and  the  Lodger  Evil.    National    Housing  Association 
Publications,  No.  18,  p.  15. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  69 

they  lived  were  generally  unaware  of  their  existence,  and 
agencies  which  might  have  been  helpful  knew  nothing  about 
them. 

Section  4.    Housing  Conditions  in  Construction  Camps. 

Construction  work  in  connection  with  the  maintenance  or 
extension  of  steam  and  electric  railroads,  the  building  of  roads 
and  rock  and  earth  excavation  furnishes  employment  for  large 
numbers  of  recent  foreigners.  Construction  companies  estimate 
that  less  than  20  per  cent  of  the  men  now  doing  this  work 
are  American  or  Irish-American.  Of  the  remaining  80  per  cent, 
the  great  majority  are  Italian,  but  Portuguese,  Polish,  Greek 
and  Russian  men  are  also  employed. 

Often  the  work  is  near  a  town  where  the  men  can  board 
in  families  of  their  own  nationality;  but  even  when  this  is 
possible  construction  camps  are  sometimes  maintained  and  the 
men  are  required  to  live  in  them  as  a  condition  of  their  em- 
ployment. 

The  camp  usually  consists  of  "box  cars,"  on  either  side  of 
which  three  or  four  decker  bunks  are  built,  or,  more  frequently 
in  Massachusetts,  of  the  "shanty  bunk  house."  This  is  a 
large  shed  of  corrugated  iron,  or  of  wood  covered  with  paper. 
There  is  usually  a  door  at  each  end,  two  small  windows  and 
two  platforms  running  the  length  of  the  building  on  either  side. 
On  these  platforms  bags  of  straw  which  serve  for  mattresses 
are  placed,  and  here  the  men  sleep. 

There  is  usually  a  stove  in  the  middle  of  the  room  on  which 
the  men  are  sometimes  allowed  to  cook,  and  often  the  com- 
missary keeps,  in  one  end  of  the  room,  the  supplies  which  he 
sells  the  men. 

In  these  camps  water  is  often  difficult  to  secure,  there  is 
usually  no  provision  for  outhouses,  and  no  effort  is  made  to 
enforce  sanitary  regulations,  so  that  those  men  who  have 
standards  quickly  lose  them. 

The  "Shanty  Bunk  House"  and  the  Padrone  System. 

An  Italian  camp  of  this  sort  is  usually  in  charge  of  an 
Italian  "boss,"  who  is  allowed  to  hire"  the  men,  sell  them 
food  and  liquor  and  collect  the  shanty  rent  of  25  cents  a  week. 


70  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

The  handing  over  of  this  power  to  these  "bosses"  has  meant 
the  perpetuation  of  the  padrone  system  in  Massachusetts. 

The  word  "padrone"  means,  in  Italian,  master  or  "boss." 
In  the  United  States  it  is  understood  to  mean  "master,"  as 
we  use  that  word  in  a  slave  system.  Formerly,  when  the 
importation  of  contract  laborers  was  not  prohibited  by  law, 
and  contracts  made  in  Europe  were  enforceable  in  the  United 
States,  the  position  of  the  padrone  was  different  from  the  one 
he  occupies  to-day. 

"His  work  is  to  act  as  an  interpreter  for  the  foreman  and 
run  the  boarding  house  or  shanty  store.  .  .  .  Under  this 
system  the  padrone  is  in  combination  with  the  Italian  banker, 
who  furnishes  the  money  to  pay  for  transportation,  for  the 
erection  of  shanties,  when  they  are  not  provided  by  the  con- 
tractor, and  to  buy  provisions.  All  this  money  is  then  de- 
ducted from  the  earnings  of  the  men.  The  profits  derived 
from  the  venture  are  finally  shared  by  the  padrone  with  the 
banker."1  This  is  the  situation  as  the  United  States  Industrial 
Commission  found  it  in  1901,  and  it  describes  the  present 
situation  in  Massachusetts.  Giving  the  commissary  the  power 
to  hire  and  discharge  the  men  has  meant  abuse  of  power 
everywhere.  As  a  result,  the  workman  becomes  demoralized 
and  the  employer  suffers,  because  men  are  hired  or  dismissed 
not  on  the  basis  of  their  efficiency,  but  only  with  regard  to 
how  much  money  they  pay  the  padrone,  either  indirectly  in 
the  purchase  of  supplies  or  in  weekly  or  monthly  payments. 

In  its  investigation  of  this  construction  work  the  commis- 
sion found  that  the  men  are  usually  secured  through  bankers 
who  are  not  licensed  employment  agents;2  that  when  they  reach 
the  camps  they  are  often  shockingly  housed;  that  they  are 
overcharged  for  the  liquor,  tobacco,  food  and  clothing  sold 
them;  that  in  some  instances  they  are  compelled  to  purchase 
liquor  as  a  condition  of  their  employment;  and  that  money 
payments  to  the  "boss"  or  padrone  are  often  required. 

Complaints  of  abuses  of  this  sort  were  received  by  the  com- 
mission in  regard  to  two  camps  near  Boston,  where  Italians 
who  were  working  for  a  street  railway  company  were  compelled 
tojlive.     Investigation  showed  that  these  camps  were  in  charge 

1  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Industrial  Commission,  Vol.  XV,  p.  433. 
*  See  pp.  44,  45. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  Xo.  2300.  71 

of  two  brothers,  Italians.  To  secure  work,  a  SI. 50  ticket  had 
to  be  purchased  by  the  commission's  investigator.  On  this 
ticket,  which  was  called  an  "Italian  shanty  ticket,"  was 
printed  the  following  warning,  in  Italian  and  English:  "This 
ticket  cash  value  good  only  for  job.  This  ticket  is  not  good 
in  exchange  for  beer  or  other  liquors.  This  ticket  is  good  for 
one  week  only."  What  this  meant  could  not  be  learned. 
In  both  camps  beer  and  whiskey  were  purchased  with  the 
ticket.  It  was  not  accepted  in  payment  for  straw  or  lodging. 
Whether  or  not  the  statement,  "This  ticket  cash  value 
good  only  for  job,"  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  state- 
ment that  it  "is  good  for  one  week  only,"  means  a  weekly  pay- 
ment of  $1.50  for  the  job  is  not  clear. 

In  one  of  these  two  camps  practically  all  the  men  were 
young,  many  of  them  boys  under  eighteen.  The  investigator 
for  the  commission  found  that  during  the  game  of  cards,  which 
the  boss  insisted  on  their  joining,  these  boys  were  all  urged  to 
buy  whiskey  and  beer,  which  was  bottled  from  kegs  in  the 
camp. 

In  this  camp  the  bedding,  platforms  and  floor  of  the  shanty 
were  found  to  be  filthy,  even  according  to  camp  standards. 
The  windows  were  boarded  up  so  that  the  two  doors  furnished 
the  only  possible  means  for  ventilation.  According  to  the 
padrone  175  men  slept  in  the  shanty  when  the  camp  was  full. 
In  order  that  he  might  have  the  shanty  rent,  men  whose 
homes  were  near  by,  and  who  demanded  that  they  be  allowed 
to  live  with  their  families,  were  refused  employment  by  the 
padrone. 

When  these  conditions  were  called  to  the  attention  of  the 
street  railway  company  it  reported  after  its  investigation  that 
in  the  future  the  power  to  employ  and  discharge  men  would 
be  vested  solely  in  the  division  road  master  or  his  authorized 
representatives.  The  rule  will  also  be  that  men  are  to  be 
employed  in  the  presence  of  the  timekeepers,  who  are  to  keep 
a  record  of  all  men  discharged,  showing  the  date  of  their 
discharge  and  the  cause.  This  plan,  if  followed,  should  pre- 
vent the  exploitation,  but  it  leaves  the  men  housed  in  the 
same  wretched  way.  On  this  point  the  commission  is  warned 
that    "to    clearly    understand    conditions,    the    fact    that    the 


72  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

shanty  is  not  a  humanitarian  institution,  but  that  it  is  run 
for  profit,  should  be  thoroughly  appreciated."  The  shanty 
is  owned  and  the  ground  on  which  it  stands  is  leased  by  the 
padrone.  That  it  is  run  for  the  profit  of  the  padrone  there  can 
be  no  question.  But  for  the  immigrant,  for  the  employer 
and  for  the  State  the  tolerance  of  such  conditions  is  a 
serious  loss. 

In  a  camp  at  Florida  Road,  near  North  Adams,  where 
Italians  were  working  on  a  State  road,  conditions  were  not 
quite  so  bad,  but  the  system  was  the  same.  The  shanty  was 
found  to  be  72  feet,  10  inches  long,  18J  feet  wide  and  8J 
feet  high.  It  had  two  windows  which  were  18  inches  square. 
On  the  two  platforms,  which  were  built  on  each  side  of  the 
shanty,  150  men  slept  when  "the  gang  was  full,"  the  padrone 
said,  but  there  were  only  82  when  the  investigator  for  the 
commission  was  there.  The  Italian  padrone  acted  both  as 
commissary  and  as  employment  agent,  ordering  what  men 
were  needed  for  the  work  from  an  Italian  banker  in  Boston 
who  is  not  a  licensed  employment  agent. 

On  the  Cape  Cod  Canal,  between  Bourne  and  Bournedale, 
thirty  Portuguese  and  fifteen  Italian  laborers  were  found 
housed  in  two  wretched  buildings.  They  slept  on  rude  plat- 
forms on  which  disgustingly  dirty  mattresses  were  laid.  The 
men  were  compelled  to  wash  in  the  canal,  and  the  only  out- 
houses were  primitive  shacks,  much  neglected.  Similar  hous- 
ing was  found  in  other  camps. 

These  shocking  camp  conditions  cannot  be  ignored  as  a 
temporary  evil.  They  have  been  allowed  to  demoralize  the 
laborers  from  year  to  year.  The  railroads  and  canals  were 
built  by  the  immigrants  of  fifty  years  ago,  and  contemporary 
accounts  indicate  conditions  which  were  said  to  "have  shocked 
the  sensibilities  of  the  American  community." 

The  sensibilities  of  the  American  community  have,  however, 
never  been  sufficiently  shocked  from  that  time  to  the  present 
to  make  the  community  really  face  this  problem  of  seasonal 
construction  work.  In  every  large  city  in  the  country  the 
social  cost  of  this  failure  to  control  camp  conditions  can  be 
measured  in  the  unemployable  group  that  lives  in  the  cheap 
lodging  districts.  Forced  by  their  occupation  to  become 
homeless    wanderers,    these    men    have    lived    as    strangers    in 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  73 

any  community  into  which  they  have  gone,  with  no  normal 
social  relationships,  badly  housed  and  encouraged  to  drink. 
They  have  spent  from  six  to  nine  months  each  year  in  camps. 
Local  communities  have  felt  no  responsibility  for  the  conditions 
under  which  they  lived  while  at  work,  for  the  camp  was 
"only  temporary,"  and  much  was  excused  on  this  score.  In 
the  winter  months  they  returned  to  the ,  city.  Here  they 
have  added  themselves  to  already  overcrowded  lodging  houses, 
and  health  officers  have  done  nothing  because  it  was  only  a 
few  months  before  they  would  be  back  on  the  road.  After 
several  seasons  these  "underemployed"  men,  because  of  these 
conditions,  become  incapable  of  self-control,  and  therefore, 
diseased  and  helpless,  they  constitute  the  "by-products"  of 
construction  work,  and  are  then  catalogued  as  "unemploy- 
ables." 

Into  this  life  we  are  drawing  the  recent  immigrant  who  has, 
when  he  begins  the  work,  good  health  and  habits  of  industry. 

Seasonal  work  must  be  performed,  and  the  State  should 
see  that  it  is  performed  under  conditions  which  will  reduce 
to  a  minimum  the  menace  to  the  health  and  morals  of  these 
men.  Camps  should  be  permitted  in  the  State  only  after  the 
housing  and  general  sanitary  arrangements  have  been  ap- 
proved by  the  State  Board  of  Health,  and  frequent  inspections 
should  be  made  to  see  that  the  standards  adopted  are  main- 
tained.1 


Section  5.    The  Housing  of  Cranberry  Pickers. 

A  special  problem  as  to  the  proper  housing  of  the  seasonal 
laborers  is  created  when  highly  specialized  forms  of  agriculture 
require  a  large  number  of  workers  for  a  very  few  weeks  or 
months  in  the  year.  In  Massachusetts  this  is  strikingly 
illustrated  in  the  cranberry  industry  on  Cape  Cod,  which 
requires  several  thousand  pickers  for  a  few  weeks  in  August 
and  September.  A  most  interesting  account  of  the  history 
of  this  industry,  which  has  grown  enormously  in  the  past 
thirty  years,  and  of  the  housing  and  social  conditions  of  the 
pickers,  is  given  in  the  report  of  the  United  States  Immigra- 
tion Commission  on  Seasonal  Agricultural  Laborers,2  prepared 

1  Sec  p.  20.  *  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  22,  Pt.  VI,  cb.  VIT. 


74  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

by  Prof.  Alexander  A.  Cance  of  the  Massachusetts   State  Agri- 
cultural College. 

The  first  pickers  in  the  Cape  Cod  district  were  Americans 
from  the  neighborhood.  With  the  increase  in  acreage,  and  the 
unwillingness  of  Americans  to  perform  this  work,  immigrants 
were  employed.  French  Canadians,  Italians,  Finns  and  Poles 
have  been  used,  and  a  few  are  still  found  on  the  bogs.  But 
the  Black  Portuguese,  or  Bravas,  who  come  from  the  islands  of 
Cape  Verde,  especially  the  island  of  Brava,  have  a  practical 
monopoly  of  this  kind  of  work.  According  to  Professor  Cance, 
"beginning  late  in  August,  the  Portuguese  emerge  from  the 
mills  of  New  Bedford,  from  the  docks  in  and  about  Providence 
and  Fall  River,  from  the  oyster  boats  along  the  coast,  from 
the  ranks  of  the  longshoremen,  and  here  and  there  from  out 
of  the  woods  and  wilds  in  the  vicinity  of  the  cranberry  dis- 
trict, and  by  twos  and  threes,  by  gangs,  by  hundreds,  make 
their  way  to  the  fruit-laden  bogs  of  Plymouth,  Barnstable, 
and    Nantucket,  —  the    Cape    Cod    cranberry    district/' ! 

Hundreds  of  these  black  laborers,  nearly  all  of  whom  are 
illiterate  and  entirely  unskilled,  are  employed  throughout  the 
year,  and  about  3,000  during  the  picking  season.2  Employers 
agree  that  they  are  efficient  as  pickers  and  as  unskilled  laborers, 
but  find  few  among  them  who  can  be  used  as  foremen  or  for 
general  work  about  the  bogs.3 

The  picking  is  done  by  hand  or  with  what  are  known  as 
"scoops"  or  "snappers,"  which  are  a  kind  of  small  scoop. 
Women  and  children  do  hand  picking,  and  as  handling  a 
snapper  requires  skill  rather  than  strength,  the  women  are  em- 
ployed at  this  work  also.4  On  some  bogs  only  the  men 
scoopers  are  allowed,  while  others  swarm  with  women  and  chil- 
dren of  all  ages.  In  general,  however,  the  picking  is  done  by 
the  Bravas,  who  are  either  single  men  or  men  who  have  left 
their  families  abroad. 

The  presence  of  the  women  and  children,  although  in  rela- 
tively small  numbers,  constitutes  the  principal  difference  be- 
tween the  housing  problem  of  these  seasonal  workers  and 
that  of  the  construction  workers.  In  general,  the  cranberry 
j jiVkers    are    better    cared    for.      Sometimes    the    men    live    in 

1  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  22,  Pt.  VI,  ch.  VII,  p.  539. 

2  Ibid.  >  Idem,  p.  547.  «  Idem,  Vol.  II,.  p.  546. 


Bunk  houses  provided  for  cranberry  pickers. 


Cranberry  picker-  on  a  liog  near  Wareham. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  75 

abandoned  houses  and  sheds  near  the  bogs,  in  great  filth  and 
squalor.  On  some  bogs  small  two-story  houses,  usually  10 
bv  12  feet,  are  built  to  accommodate  the  men  or  the  families. 
The  first  floor  is  used  as  a  kitchen,  and  the  upper  floor  has 
bunks  built  of  rough  lumber.  On  other  bogs,  acting  on  the 
theory  that  anything  will  do  for  six  weeks,  the  owners  provide 
shacks  of  the  roughest  and  crudest  sort,  and  no  attention  is 
paid  to  sanitary  arrangements  or  cleanliness.1 

The  effects  of  these  conditions  are  felt  for  a  much  longer 
time  than  six  weeks,  and  are  not  confined  to  the  pickers  only, 
for  when  they  return  to  town  a  very  large  number  of  other 
people  are  exposed  to  the  diseases  which  come  from  such  con- 
ditions. To  quote  from  Professor  Cance  again,  "The  moral 
effect  of  the  miscellaneous  housing  and  unconventional  life 
cannot,  to  put  it  mildly,  be  very  satisfactory.  School  authori- 
ties assert  that  the  itinerary  breaks  in  on  the  school  routine 
with  detrimental  results  educationally.  Certain  medical  and 
hygienic  authorities  declare  with  conviction  that  the  exposure 
to  rain,  cold  and  malarial  atmospheres  are  provocative  of  fevers 
and  tuberculosis,  and  that  neither  the  water  supply  nor  the  un- 
hygienic surroundings  are  conducive  to  physical  well-being/' 2 

Adjacent  towns  and  cities  cannot  be  expected  to  regulate 
either  the  housing  or  the  water  supply  provided  for  the  pickers. 
Clearly,  then,  this  should  be  made  the  function  of  the  State 
Board  of  Health.  Inspections  should  be  made  of  housing,  water 
and  sanitation  in  general,  before,  as  well  as  during,  the  time 
that  the  picking  is  in  progress. 

1  Rejwts  of  the  If.  S.  Immigration  Comjnission,  Vol.  22,  p.  551. 
s  Idem,  Vol.  22,  p.  497. 


76  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   OCCUPATIONS   OF  THE  RECENT  IMMIGRANT. 

Section  1.    The  Immigrant  in  Industry. 

Influencing,  and  to  a  very  large  extent  controlling,  every 
social  and  political  aspect  of  immigration  is  the  economic  or 
industrial  condition  of  the  immigrant.  On  this  subject  much 
material  was  already  available  in  the  forty-one  volumes  of  the 
report  of  the  United  States  Immigration  Commission,  in  the 
report  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  on  Women  and 
Child  Wage  Earners,  and  in  other  federal  and  State  reports. 
This  material  was  supplemented  by  the  much  more  limited 
investigations  of  the  commission.  In  the  personal  history 
schedules  secured  from  1,224  recent  immigrants  the  industrial 
experience,  both  in  Europe  and  in  America,  of  the  head  of  the 
household  and  of  the  other  members  of  the  family  was  re- 
corded.1 In  addition,  a  schedule  of  questions  was  sent  out  to  a 
selected  list  of  2,350  industrial  establishments.  The  replies  of 
1,217  of  these  establishments,  having  303,826  employees,  were 
sufficiently  complete  to  be  valuable,  and  these  were  used  in 
the  tabulations.2  The  material  obtained  from  these  various 
sources  and  from  the  public  hearings,  supplemented  and  inter- 
preted by  consultation  with  trade-union  officials,  employers  and 
social  workers,  has  formed  the  basis  of  this  part  of  the  report. 

The  great  industrial  development  of  Massachusetts  has  been 
made  possible  by  immigration.  This  is  best  illustrated  in 
the  racial  history  of  the  employees  of  the  textile  industry.  Prior 
to  1840  the  operatives  were  drawn  from  the  native  Americans 
who  lived  on  surrounding  farms.  The  expansion  at  that 
time,  coupled  with  the  emigration  to  the  west  of  many  native 
Americans,  offered  opportunities  of  employment  to  the  large 
number  of  Irish  who  were  driven  from  home  by  famine.  The 
English  came  in  the  largest  numbers  from  1870  to  1880,  while 
the  immigration  of  the  French  Canadians,  who  began  coming 

1  See  Appendix  A  for  explanation  of  these  schedules. 

2  See  Appendix  A  for  detailed   statement  regarding  the   industries  to  which  questions  were 
submitted  and  from  which  replies  were  received. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  77 

after  the  civil  war,  reached  its  height  about  1885.  It  is  only 
since  1895  that  the  present,  or  newer,  immigration  has  become 
an  important  factor  in  the  textile  industry  of  Massachusetts. 
Because  for  many  generations  the  women  operatives  out- 
numbered the  men,  the  textile  industry  has  been  called  the 
women's  industry.  While  this  is  no  longer  true,  yet  the  present 
number  of  women  operatives  in  Massachusetts  is  very  large. 
Therefore  the  racial  changes  in  the  textile  operatives  have 
meant  the  immigration  of  great  numbers  of  young  peasant 
women  from  Eastern  Europe. 

Between  1890  and  1900  the  employment  of  the  recent  immi- 
grants began  in  the  boot  and  shoe  industry,  and  since  that 
time  Southern  and  Eastern  Europeans  have  been  employed  in 
larger  numbers,  although  the  increase  has  been  more  gradual 
than  in  the  textile  industry. 

Some  of  the  most  important  industrial  centers,  of  which 
Lawrence  is  an  example,  had  their  beginnings  after  the  coming 
of  the  Irish  and  the  English,  hence  the  wage  earners  of  that 
city  have  always  been  largely  foreign.  Others,  like  Ludlow, 
belong  to  the  present  period  of  immigration,  and  there  have 
been  no  great  racial  changes  among  the  employees  of  the  Lud- 
low Mills. 

In  manufacturing  as  a  whole,  however,  the  per  cent  of 
foreign-born  wage  earners  has  steadily  increased  in  Massachu- 
setts since  1840,  and  of  the  foreign-born,  those  from  Southern 
and  Eastern  Europe  have  increased  from  insignificance  in 
1895  to  the  important  place  they  now  occupy  as  industrial  wage 
earners. 

The  increase  in  the  proportion  of  foreign-born  wage  earners 
in  the  factories  of  Massachusetts  since  1870  is  shown  in  the 
following  table :  — 


78 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Table  7.  —  Number  of  Native  and  Foreign-born  Persons  in  Massachusetts 
engaged  in  Manufacturing  and  Mechanical  Industries,  1870-1905.1 


Census  Year. 


Total 

Persons  en- 
gaged in 

Manufactur- 
ing and 

Mechanical 

Industries. 


Number 

of 
Native- 
born. 


Number 

of 
Foreign- 
born. 


Per  Cent 
of  Persons 
engaged 
in  Manufac- 
turing and 
Mechanical 
Industries 
who  are 
Foreign-born. 


1870, 
1880, 
1890, 
1900, 
1905, 


292,665 
370,265 
475,646 
566,776 
622,481 


197,040 
238,255 
282,030 
312,615 
332,881 


95,625 
132,010 
193,616 
254,161 
289,600 


32.7 
35.7 
40.7 
44.8 
46.6 


The  change  that  is  indicated  by  this  table  is  usually  re- 
ferred to  as  a  "racial  displacement"  of  the  native  American 
by  the  Irish  and  English,  and  of  these  in  turn  by  the  French 
Canadian,  the  Pole,  the  Italian,  the  Portuguese  and  the  other 
nationalities  of  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe  and  of  Western 
Asia.  While  this  is  in  a  measure  true,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  enormous  development  of  the  industries  of  Massa- 
chusetts has  required  an  increasingly  large  number  of  em- 
ployees, as  the  following  table  shows :  — 


Table  8.  —  Number  of  Persons  employed  in  all  Manufacturing  Industries 
and  in   Three  Selected  Industries,   Massachusetts,   1885-191 1.2 


Industry. 

Number  op  Persons  employed  — 

1885. 

1895. 

1905. 

1911. 

All  manufacturing  industries,     . 
Boot  and  shoe  industry, 

Woolen  and  worsted  goods, 

379,328 
64,858 
60,132 
26,933 

382,563 
58,722 
83,111 
34,381 

488,399 
70,148 
89,118 
44,852 

584,033 
79,542 

109,683 
49,986 

1  Compiled  from  U.  S.  Ninth  Census  (1870),  Vol.  I,  Population,  p.  739;  Tenth  Ce?isus  (1880), 
Population,  p.  828;  Eleventh  Census  (1890),  Population,  pp.  347,  482;  Twelfth  Census  (1900),  Special 
Report  on  Occupations,  p.  164;  and  Census  of  Massachusetts,  1905,  Vol.  II,  p.  52. 

2  Figures  for  1885,  1895  and  1905  from  Census  of  Massachusetts;  for  1911  from  Twenty-sixth 
Annual  Report  of  the  Statistics  of  Manufactures,  Bureau  of  Statistics.  Figures  for  1885  are  for 
total  persons  employed  June  30,  1885;  for  1895,  1905  and  1911  for  average  number  employed. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


"9 


A  very  large  per  cent  of  the  older  immigrants,  especially 
those  who  went  into  the  textile  industries,  were  skilled  opera- 
tives at  the  time  of  their  arrival.     This  has  not  been  true  of 


o 

o 

o 

r- 

CO 

<D 

cO 

00 

oo 

ir> 


O) 


<T> 


Diagram  4.  —  Number  of  native  and  foreign  born  persons  in  Massachusetts  engaged 
in  manufacturing  and  mechanical  industries,  1870-1905.  Black  section  indicates 
persons  of  foreign  birth. 


SO  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

the  recent  immigrants,  and  they  could  not  therefore  have  been 
utilized  in  such  large  numbers  had  not  ring-spinning  supplanted 
mule-spinning,  and  had  not  the  new  machinery  supplanted  the 
old,  with  the  resulting  subdivision  and  specialization  in  all 
kinds  of  factory  work.  This  change  has  made  it  possible  to 
use  the  unskilled,  non-English  speaking  immigrant  in  very 
much  larger  numbers  than  would  have  been  possible  under  the 
old  industrial  system. 

Whether,  then,  the  unprecedented  expansion  of  industry, 
together  with  the  increased  use  of  machinery,  has  been  the 
cause  of  the  recent  immigration  to  Massachusetts,  or  whether 
the  presence  of  the  immigrant  has  made  possible  the  industrial 
development  and  required  the  use  of  more  machinery  and  the 
reorganization  of  the  factory  system,  has  been  much  discussed. 
It  has  been  generally  agreed,  however,  that  the  expansion  of 
industry  was  the  first  cause,  but  that,  once  started,  each  was 
both  cause  and  effect  in  the  chain  of  events  that  followed. 
Certainly  the  output  of  manufactured  articles  could  not  have 
increased  so  rapidly  without  the  new  immigration.  Just  as 
certainly  the  immigrants  would  not  have  come  to  Massachu- 
setts, or,  having  come,  would  not  have  remained  had  they 
been  unable  to  secure  employment  in  the  State. 

According  to  replies  received  by  the  commission  the  number 
of  manufacturing  establishments  that  have  been  employing 
Southern  and  Eastern  Europeans  in  increasingly  large  numbers 
during  the  past  ten  years  is  as  follows :  — 


1914.] 


HOUSE  — No.  2300. 


81 


Table  9.  —  Number  of  Manufacturing  Establishments  that  have  employed 
Southern  and  Eastern  Europeans  in  Increasingly  Large  Numbers  during 
the  Past  Ten  Years. 


Industry. 


Number 
of  Factories 

reporting 

to  the 

Commission. 


Number 
of  Factories 

reporting 

Increase  in  the 

Employment 

of  Southern 

and  Eastern 

Europeans. 


Boots, and  shoes,  .... 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock  and  findings, 
Rubber  boots  and  shoes,    . 
Rubber  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Cotton  goods, 

Cotton  small  wares,    .... 

Dyeing  and  finishing  textiles,     . 

Foundry  and  machine  shops, 

Iron  and  steel,     . 

Structural  iron  work, 

Hosiery  and  knit  goods, 

Jewelry, 

Leather  goods,     . 

Leather,  tan,  curried  and  finished,     . 

Paper  and  wood  pulp, 

Paper  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Suspenders,  garters  and  elastic  woven  goods, 

Wooden  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified),    . 

Wool  scouring, 

Woolen  and  worsted  goods, 

Total,    ....... 


210 

52 

5 

22 

127 
12 
36 

316 

5 

19 

33 

91 

14 

67 

45 

20 

16 

6 

7 

114 


99 

15 

4 

11 

94 

2 

22 

75 

3 

6 

10 

14 

3 

44 
34 
8 
4 
1 
2 
62 


1,217 


513 


These  figures  include  many  small  establishments  whose  em- 
ployees are  largely  American  or  English-speaking  immigrants. 
When  the  basis  of  comparison  is  the  number  of  wage  earners 
rather  than  the- number  of  establishments,  and  a  longer  period  of 
time  is  considered,  this  change  is  much  more  marked,  as  is 
shown  by  the  following  comparison  of  the  different  foreign 
groups  at  present  employed  in  manufacturing  with  those  so 
employed  in  1890. 


82 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Table  10.  —  Race  Distribution  by  Percentages  of  Foreign-born  Persons  en- 
gaged in  Manufacturing  and  Mechanical  Industries  in  Massachusetts, 
1890  and  1913. 1 


Nationality. 


Per  Cent  of  All  Foreign- 
born. 


1890. 

1913. 

29.8 

12.7 

20.6 

16.7 

19.3 

11.5 

16.0 

3.3 

3.7 

1.8 

1.0 

1.9 

.9 

7.7 

- 

1.9 

- 

3.6 

- 

2.0 

- 

2.3 

- 

13.7 

- 

6.9 

- 

1.2 

8.7 

12.8 

Irish,    . 

Canadian,  French, 

British, 

Canadian,  English, 

Scandinavian, 

Russian,2     . 

Italian, 

Armenian,    . 

Greek, 

Jewish, 

Lithuanian, 

Polish, 

Portuguese, 

Syrian, 

Others, 


1  Per  cents  for  1890  based  on  U.  S.  Eleventh  Census  (1890),  Population,  p.  482,  Table  10S.  Per 
cents  for  1913  based  on  replies  received  by  the  commission  from  1,217  industrial  establishments 
employing  a  total  of  179,963  foreign-born  persons.  These  replies  were  received  from  establish- 
ments in  20  different  industries.    For  number  of  replies  from  each  industry,  etc.,  see  Appendix  A. 

2  Includes  all  persons  born  in  Russia,  such  as  Finns,  Poles,  Lithuanians,  Russian  Jews,  etc. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


83 


1913 


IRISH 


BRITISH 


CANADIAN 

ENG- 


CANADIAN 
FR 


SCANDINAVIAN 
RUSSIAN 

ITALIAN 

ARMENIAN 

CREEK 

JEWISH 
LITHUANIAN 


POLISH 


PORTUGUESE 


OTHERS 


1890 


IRISH 


BRITISH 


CANADIAN- 
ENG. 


CANAJJ/AN- 
FR 


SCANDINAVIAN 


OTHERS 


Diagram   5.  —  Nationality   of   foreign-born    persons   engaged    in  manufacturing    in 
Massachusetts,  1890  and  1913.     (For  source  see  note  1,  p.  82.) 


84  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

According  to  this  table  the  Irish,  who  constituted  29.8  per 
cent  of  all  the  foreign-born  employees  in  the  manufacturing  and 
mechanical  industries  of  Massachusetts  in  1890,  constitute  only 
12.7  per  cent  of  the  employees  in  the  industries  from  which 
the  commission  received  its  information;  the  French  Canadians, 
formerly  20.6  per  cent,  constitute  16.7;  while  the  British,  for- 
merly 19.3  per  cent,  constitute  11.5  per  cent  of  these  foreign- 
born  employees.  In  1890  the  Poles  were  so  insignificant  in 
number  that  they  were  not  separately  classified;  according  to 
the  reports  received  by  the  commission  they  constitute  to-day 
a  larger  per  cent  of  the  total  foreign-born  than  the  Irish.  The 
Italian  element  has  changed  according  to  the  commission's  re- 
ports from  .9  per  cent  to  7.7  per  cent,  and  the  Portuguese  from 
insignificance  to  6.9  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  of  foreign- 
born  employed  in  these  industries. 

This  change  in  the  nationalities  of  the  wage  earners  has  not 
been  confined  to  Massachusetts  nor  to  the  area  of  the  Middle 
States  and  New  England.  It  has  been  going  on  in  the  middle 
west  and  the  southwest,  in  the  basic  industries  of  the  country 
and  in  all  kinds  of  manufacturing  and  mining,  railroad  and 
canal  construction  and  other  seasonal  work.  The  situation  in 
Massachusetts  is  somewhat  unique  because  of  the  relative  im- 
portance of  certain  nationalities  in  the  immigration  to  this 
State.  The  large  numbers  of  French  Canadians,  of  Portuguese 
in  Fall  River  and  New  Bedford,  of  Bravas,  or  Black  Portu- 
guese, on  the  Cape,  and  of  Greeks  in  Lowell,  together  with 
the  fact  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  all  the  Syrian,  Ar- 
menian and  Turkish  immigrants  to  the  United  States  are  com- 
ing to  Massachusetts,  make  its  immigration  different  racially 
from  that  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and  Illinois. 

Displacement,  or  the  employment  of  a  new  race  because  of 
business  expansion,  once  begun,  increases  very  rapidly  in  a 
locality  or  industry.  This  is  due  to  racial  prejudices,  which 
make  employment  in  the  industry  or  factory  seem  less  de- 
sirable with  the  change  in  nationalities.  And  so,  because  of 
the  attraction  of  Pole  for  Pole  and  of  Greek  for  Greek,  the 
displacement  will  probably  continue  in  particular  localities  as 
well  as  in  individual  factories. 

On  the  question  of  whether  or  not  the  recent  immigrant  is 


1914.] 


HOUSE  — No.  2300. 


85 


found  to  be  less  efficient  than  the  immigrants  from  Northern 
and  Western  Europe  opinions  differ,  as  the  following  table 
shows :  — 


Table  11.  —  Opinion  of  Four  Hundred  and  Eighty-Nine  Employers  as 
to  the  Relative  Efficiency  of  the  Southern  and  Eastern  European  as 
compared  with  the  Northern  and  Western  European  or  the  Native-born. 


Number  of  Employers 

reporting  the  southern  and 

Eastern  European  — 

Total 

Employers 

replying 

Industry. 

More 
Efficient. 

Equally 
Efficient,    i 

Less 
Efficient. 

to 
Question. 

13 

20 

46 

79 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock  and  findings,     . 

3 

1 

8 

12 

Rubber  boots  and  shoes, 

- 

2 

3 

5 

Rubber  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

1 

2 

8 

11 

4 

8 

79 

91 

Cotton  small  wares,          .... 

- 

- 

4 

4 

Dyeing  and  finishing  textiles, 

1 

4 

19 

24 

Foundry  and  machine  shops,  . 

8 

12 

63 

83 

Iron  and  steel, 

1 

- 

1 

o 

Structural  iron  works,      .... 

1 

- 

6 

7 

Hosiery  and  knit  goods,  .... 

- 

4 

6 

10 

2 

2 

11 

15 

Leather  goods, 

- 

- 

1 

1 

Leather,  tan,  curried  and  finished,  . 

5 

7 

32 

44 

Paper  and  wood  pulp,      .... 

1 

4 

20 

25 

Paper  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified ), 

- 

2 

3 

5 

Suspenders,   garters   and   elastic   woven 

goods. 
Wooden  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

_ 

2 

1 

3 

Wool  scouring, 

2 

1 

4 

7 

Woolen  and  worsted  goods, 

1 

15 

45 

61 

Total 

43 

86 

360 

489 

According  to  these  figures  about  two-thirds  of  their  employers 
find  the  recent  immigrants  less  efficient  than  the  immigrants  from 
Northern  and  Western  Europe. 

The  testimony  on  this  point  is  in  some  cases  apparently  an 
expression  of  individual  preference  or  prejudice  rather  than  a 
business  judgment  on  the  efficiency  of  employment.  There  can  be 
no  question,  however,  but  that  in  the  textile  industry,  where 


86 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


weaving  is  the  most  important  and  the  most  skilled  work,  the 
Polish  and  Lithuanian  women  are  being  used  as  weavers  in 
increasingly  large  numbers.1 

To  what  extent  the  reported  inefficiency  of  these  employ- 
ees is  due  to  language  and  the  lack  of  knowledge  of  Ameri- 
can methods  can  only  be  determined  by  whether  or  not  the 
employee  is  working  up  in  the  scale  of  occupations  as  these 
difficulties  are  overcome.  The  testimony  of  the  employers  on 
this  point  is  given  in  the  following  table :  — 


Table  12.  —  Opinion  of  Four  Hundred  and  Eighty-one  Employers  as  to 
whether  Southern  and  Eastern  Europeans  are  working  up  in  the  Scale 
of  Occupations. 


Industry. 


Number  of  Employers 

reporting 

Southern  and  Eastern 

Europeans  — 


Working 

up  in 

Scale  of 

Occupations. 


Not 

working  up 

in  Scale  of 

Occupations. 


Boots  and  shoes, 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock  and  findings, 
Rubber  boots  and  shoes,      .... 
Rubber  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Cotton  goods, 

Cotton  smallwares 

Dyeing  and  finishing  textiles, 
Foundry  and  machine  shops, 

Iron  and  steel, 

Structural  iron  works, 

Hosiery  and  knit  goods,        .... 

Jewelry, 

Leather  goods 

Leather,  tan,  curried  and  finished, 

Paper  and  wood  pulp, 

Paper  good3  (not  elsewhere  specified), 
Suspenders,  garters  and  elastic  woven  goods, 
Wooden  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Wool  scouring, 

Woolen  and  worsted  goods,  .... 
Total, 


73 

13 

3 

7 

76 

2 

12 

70 

o 

is 

3 

8 

18 

2 

41 

14 

5 

2 

1 

1 

51 


404 


1 

5 

10 

6 
18 

3 

1 
1 
1 
4 
8 
1 


5 

11 


77 


Total 

Employers 

replying 

to 
Question. 


75 

13 

4 

12 

86 

2 

18 

88 

2 

6 

9 

10 

3 

45 

22 

6 

2 

1 

6 

62 


481 


1  See  registration  record  of  a  typical  cotton  mill,  Appendix  F. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  87 

According  to  this  table  404,  or  84  per  cent,  of  their  em- 
ployers report  that  the  recent  immigrants  are  working  up  in  the 
scale  of  occupations. 

It  is  often  said  that  the  last  new  immigrant  race,  from  the 
time  of  the  Irish  and  English  to  that  of  the  Greek  and  Lithua- 
nian, has  been  preferred  by  employers  because  its  members 
are  willing  to  work  for  lower  wages,  and  that  they  have  been 
willing  to  do  this  because  the  standard  of  living  has  in  the  case 
of  each  group  been  lower  than  that  of  the  supplanted  national- 
ity. The  United  States  Immigration  Commission  makes  the 
following  comment  in  this  connection :  — 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  not  appeared  in  the  case  of  the  industries 
covered  by  the  present  investigation  that  it  was  usual  for  employers  to 
engage  recent  immigrants  at  wages  actually  lower  than  those  prevailing 
at  the  time  of  their  employment  in  the  industry  where  they  were  em- 
ployed.1 

In  other  words,  a  Pole  and  an  American  doing  the  same  kind 
of  work  are  paid  on  the  same  basis.  What  the  wages  of  the 
workers  in  the  textile  mills,  the  boot  and  shoe  and  other  fac- 
tories, in  construction  work  and  all  the  other  occupations  of  the 
State  would  have  been  if  the  Irish,  English,  French  Canadian, 
South  Italian,  Pole,  Portuguese  and  others  had  not,  in  turn, 
"displaced"  those  who  came  before  them  is  only  a  matter  of 
conjecture. 

It  is  equally  impossible  to  answer  satisfactorily  the  question 
whether  or  not,  if  the  American,  Irish  and  English  constituted 
to-day  practically  all  the  industrial  workers  of  the  State,  and 
if  the  wages  paid  them  for  the  same  kind  of  work  that  they  did 
a  generation  or  two  ago  had  steadily  increased,  they  would  be 
better  off  than  they  are  at  present  or  as  well  off.  In  other 
words,  have  the  great  expansion  of  the  old  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  new  industries,  for  which  immigrant  labor  has  been 
necessary,  resulted  in  an  increase  of  well-paid  positions  in  which 
the  English-speaking  races  have  found  employment,  or  have 
the  American  and  older  immigrant  races  suffered  in  the  displace- 
ment? 

Individual  instances  in  which  both  of  these  results  have 
happened  are  found.     But  whether  the  changed  condition  has 

1  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Commission  on  Immigration,  Vol.  1,  p.  494. 


88  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

meant  a  general  loss  or  a  general  gain  cannot  be  statistically 
proven.  It  is  certainly  true  that  the  native  Americans  and 
the  older  immigrants  are  found  in  larger  numbers  in  the  better- 
paid  industries,  and  in  the  best-paid  positions  in  those  in- 
dustries. The  newer  immigrant,  whatever  his  skill,  practically 
always  begins  at  the  poorest-paid  and  ugliest  part  of  the  work 
in  any  industry.  The  wages  that  the  newly  arrived  immigrant 
receives  are  often  insufficient  for  the  proper  support  of  his 
family  when  employment  is  regular.  In  many  industries  his 
nominal  wage  is  much  reduced  by  long  periods  of  complete 
illness  or  slack  work. *  This  has  meant  that  many  of  the 
mothers  are  compelled  to  supplement  the  inadequate  earnings 
of  their  husbands  by  factory  work  or  by  taking  lodgers. 

So  far  as  the  lower  standard  of  living  of  the  immigrant  is  re- 
sponsible for  his  low  wage,  it  should  be  remembered  that  this 
is  very  largely  within  the  control  of  the  local  community.  For 
example,  in  the  failure  to  require  decent  living  conditions  by 
the  enforcement  of  housing  regulations,  the  communities  of  the 
Commonwealth  have  accepted  the  excuse  of  the  poorly  paid 
wage  earner  that  he  cannot  afford  to  live  better  on  what  he 
receives  and  of  the  employer  that  he  cannot  afford  to  pay 
more.  By  this  negative  policy,  we  have,  in  effect,  said  that  the 
development  of  industry  is  more  important  than  the  living  con- 
ditions of  the  people.  In  other  words,  no  blame  can  be  placed 
on  the  employer  or  the  immigrant  for  which  the  community  is 
not  finally  responsible.  For  had  not  the  majority  of  the  people 
of  Massachusetts  acted  on  the  principle  that  the  maintenance 
of  the  industrial  leadership  of  the  Commonwealth  was  the  most 
important  consideration,  her  history  might  have  been  quite 
different. 

It  is  probably  also  true  that,  while  not  expressed  or  even 
consciously  accepted,  the  general  attitude  throughout  the 
United  States  in  law  making  and  in  law  enforcing  has  been  that 
if  the  immigrant  were  the  one  concerned  there  was  less  neces- 
sity for  action.  It  was  to  have  been  expected  that  the  United 
States,  being  a  republic,  would  lead  the  world,  in  legislative  pro- 
vision for  the  social  and  industrial  welfare  of  its  working  people. 

1  See  Appendix  A,    "  Wages  paid  recent  immigrants  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  immi- 
grants." 


One  of  tin'  mod  congested  districts  In  Massachusetts.      From 

'/h<  i. mm  ,,< .  Sterrey,  i  age  66. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  89 

That  this  has  not  been  true,  and  that  instead  we  are  to-day  look- 
ing to  England  and  Germany  for  guidance  along  these  lines,  is 
largely  due,  it  is  believed,  to  the  fact  that  in  every  generation  the 
poorest  paid  and  least  skilled  have  been  recent  immigrants  whose 
needs  and  sufferings  have  been  unknown,  and  therefore  unap- 
preciated, by  those  in  positions  of  authority.  As  a  result,  the 
removal  of  the  evils  of  bad  housing,  insanitary  working  con- 
ditions, unprotected  machinery,  long  hours,  irregular  employ- 
ment and  low  wages,  in  so  far  as  they  are  controlled  by  public 
opinion  or  legislation,  has  been  much  delayed.  To  have  met 
properly  the  problem  of  the  relation  of  the  immigrant  to  our 
industries,  an  exactly  contrary  policy  should  have  been  pursued. 
The  unskilled  are  always  the  weakest  industrially,  and  therefore 
the  least  able  to  protect  themselves,  and  for  this  reason  they 
are  the  most  in  need  of  all  the  safeguards  that  the  State  can 
furnish.  When  to  the  handicap  of  the  unskilled  is  added  ig- 
norance of  the  English  language  and  of  American  methods,  the 
need  for  social  legislation  is  enormously  increased. 

So  far  as  the  immigrant  is  concerned,  therefore,  the  most 
careful  enforcement  of  existing  laws  is  necessary.  For  such 
enforcement  of  the  factory  legislation  inspectors  who  can  speak 
the  language  of  the  immigrant  are  needed.  In  future  legisla- 
tion it  should  be  remembered  that  because  of  the  larger  number 
of  recently  arrived  immigrant  wage  earners,  who  are  so  peculiarly 
weak  in  their  control  of  the  conditions  under  which  they  live  and 
work,  it  is  very  important  that  legislation  along  the  lines  of  social 
and  industrial  improvement  should  be  enacted.  Delay  in  the 
past  has  been  due  largely  to  failure  to  appreciate  this  need.  It 
has  also  been  due  to  the  difficulty  that  one  State  experiences 
in  adopting  or  enforcing  standards  superior  to  those  of  other 
States.  Massachusetts  has  suffered  from  the  lack  of  uniformity 
in  industrial  legislation,  but  it  has  not  deterred  her  in  the  past, 
and  must  not  deter  her  in  the  future,  from  advancing  the  stand- 
ards of  industrial  requirements.  This  is,  however,  not  a  field 
for  recommendations  by  this  commission,  although,  as  has  been 
shown,  the  presence  of  the  immigrant  in  the  industries  of 
Massachusetts  is  one  of  the  principal  arguments  for  industrial 
protection. 


90  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

Section  2.    The  Immigrant  in  Agriculture. 

In  recent  years  there  has  been  an  enthusiastic  insistence  on 
the  beauties  of  farm  life.  Curiously  enough  these  beauties  were 
generally  discovered  at  the  time  that  the  American  farm  boys 
and  girls  and  the  immigrants,  who  were  usually  European  farm 
boys  and  girls,  were  hurrying  to  the  city  and  the  industrial 
town.1  The  sentimental  inaccuracies  at  first  indulged  in  have 
now  been  abandoned,  and  it  is  generally  recognized  that  many 
native  Americans  and  some  immigrants  who  prefer  farming 
as  an  occupation  find  that  the  disadvantages  of  farm  life  far 
outweigh  the  advantages.  Those  who  are  really  interested  in 
the  future  of  agriculture  in  America  are  therefore  hard  at  work 
on  a  constructive  program  for  the  removal  of  those  disadvan- 
tages. 

There  are,  on  the  other  hand,  some  native  Americans  and 
many  more  immigrants  in  the  cities  and  industrial  centers  who 
feel  that  even  as  at  present  organized,  the  advantages  that  rural 
life  offers  are  much  greater  than  the  disadvantages;  and  they 
would  therefore  welcome  the  opportunity  to  become  farmers. 
It  is  only  these  who  can  be  considered  in  any  immediate 
scheme  for  successful  distribution.  In  so  far  as  such  a  scheme  is 
dependent  upon  the  development  of  some  system  of  rural 
credits  or  upon  extensive  organization  for  marketing  crops,  or 
upon  provision  for  social  life,  all  of  which  are  regarded  as 
highly  desirable  by  the  commission,  it  is  not  especially  an 
immigrant  problem.  What  might  be  done  along  this  line  for 
both  the  immigrant  and  the  native-born  is  being  made  the  sub- 
ject of  careful  consideration  by  the  Homestead  Commission. 

In  so  far  as  the  immigrant  might,  with  some  thoughtful  direc- 
tion, undertake  farming  at  once,  the  question  is  whether  or  not 
he  can  do  the  patient  and  yet  intelligent  work  that  is  necessary 
to  bring  back  into  profitable  cultivation  the  neglected  and 
undercultivated  farms  of  Massachusetts,  and,  if  so,  how  the 
necessary  guidance  can  be  given  that  will  make  it  possible  for 
him  to  undertake  farming  with  greater  chances  of  success. 

1  In  1870  (U.  S.  Ninth  Census,  Population,  p.  675,  Table  XXVII),  12.6  per  cent  of  the  total 
population  of  Massachusetts  were  engaged  in  agriculture;  in  1900  (Twelfth  Census,  Population, 
Pt.  II,  p.  cxxxv,  Table  LXXVTI)  only  5.5  per  cent  were  so  engaged.  Of  the  foreign-born  popula- 
tion in  1870  (Ninth  Census,  Population,  pp.  698,  699,  Table  XXVIII),  5.9  per  cent  were  engaged  in 
agriculture;   in  1900  (Twelfth  Census,  Occupations,  pp.  154,  156,  Table  34),  4.1  per  cent. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  91 


The  Recent  Immigrant  and  Agriculture. 

Of  the  immigrants  who  came  to  Massachusetts  in  the  year 
ended  June  30,  1912,  27.6  per  cent  were  farm  laborers  at  home.1 
In  certain  nationalities  the  per  cent  was  much  higher.  For  ex- 
ample, 55  per  cent  of  the  Lithuanians,  50  per  cent  of  the  Poles 
and  38  per  cent  of  the  Italians  were  farm  laborers  before  they 
emigrated.  Although  less  than  1  per  cent  of  each  of  these  were 
farm  owners,  this  does  not  mean  that  all  the  others  belonged 
to  the  "landless"  peasant  class  at  home.  Many  of  them 
worked  on  their  fathers'  farms  and  at  his  death  would  inherit 
their  share  of  his  small  holding. 

When  the  immigrants  first  come  they  are  without  the  capital 
necessary  for  independent  farming.  Moreover,  many  of  them, 
especially  those  who  have  lived  under  the  landlord  system  of 
southern  Italy  and  Russia,  believe  that  the  farm  means  poverty 
and  suffering,  and  that  a  weekly  wage  in  the  city  or  town  is 
the  road  to  the  things  they  hope  America  is  to  give  them. 
Many  find  this  to  be  the  case. 

Many  others,  however,  are  mistaken.  They  find  factory 
work  an  unhappy  and  unhealthy  substitute  for  farm  work,  and 
the  weekly  wage  not  possessed  of  the  purchasing  power  they 
imagined.  These  look  forward  to  a  return  to  the  land  and 
begin  to  accumulate  their  savings  toward  that  end.  But  what- 
ever their  knowledge  of  agriculture,  they  are  helpless  in  the 
immigrant  stage.  To  make  a  successful  beginning  as  farmers  in 
America  they  must  first  serve  an  apprenticeship  as  farm 
laborers,  or  they  must  be  given  disinterested  advice  and 
guidance  as  to  the  first  steps  which  they  must  take. 

The  Immigrant  as  a  Farm  Laborer. 

The  farmers  of  Massachusetts  alreadv  relv  on  the  Pole,  the 
Portuguese,  the  Italian,  the  Finn,  and  in  some  sections  on  the 
Greek  and  the  Armenian,  for  extra  labor  during  the  harvest 
season  as  well  as  for  all-the-year-round  helpers. 

Great  difficulty  is  often  experienced  by  the  farmers  in  se- 
curing the  number  of  laborers  needed.  This  would  not  seem  to 
square  with  the  statement  that  there  are  many  immigrants  in 

1  Annual  report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  1912,  pp.  106,  107. 


92  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

factories  who  are  eager  to  get  on  the  farm.  But  there  are 
several  reasons  for  this  apparent  contradiction. 

For  one  thing,  the  wages  are  in  many  instances  not  high 
enough  to  offer  sufficient  inducement  to  counterbalance  the 
long-hour  day  and  the  short  period  of  employment.  More  im- 
portant still,  the  demand  and  supply  for  this  class  of  labor 
have  never  been  in  any  sense  organized. 

The  farmer  who  employs  two  or  three  men  cannot  profitably 
study  the  labor  market;  and  the  immigrant  who  wants  to  try 
farming  in  America  has  no  way  of  connecting  with  the  farmer 
except  through  the  private  labor  agency  or  the  State  free  em- 
ployment offices. 

The  impossibility  of  relying  on  the  private  agency  for  de- 
sirable distribution  has  already  been  explained.  As  for  the 
State's  help  in  the  past  in  this  connection,  all  the  free  employ- 
ment agencies,  and  especially  the  one  at  Springfield,  place  farm 
laborers,  but  there  has  been  no  general  study  of  how  this  could 
be  most  intelligently  done.  Until  serious  public  attention  is 
given  this  matter,  and  a  larger  appropriation  makes  a  more 
extensive  organization  possible,  the  present  system  or  lack  of 
system  must  continue.1 

That  directing  the  immigrant  to  the  farm  as  a  farm  laborer 
would  be  desirable,  both  for  the  State  and  the  immigrant,  the 
prosperity  of  the  colony  of  Poles  in  the  Connecticut  valley 
demonstrates. 

In  its  investigation  of  the  "Recent  Immigrants  in  Agricul- 
ture," 2  the  United  States  Immigration  Commission  studied  the 
Russian  Jewish  Colony  at  Holliston,  Mass.,  the  Polish  Colony 
at  Sunderland,  and,  of  the  "  Seasonal  Agricultural  Laborers/' 
the  Bravas,  or  Black  Portuguese  cranberry  pickers  on  Cape 
Cod.  The  investigation  was  made  under  the  direction  of 
Alexander  A.  Cance  of  the  agricultural  survey  department  of 
the  Massachusetts  State  Agricultural  College. 

Of  these  three  colonies  the  most  important,  agriculturally,  is 
the  Polish  settlement  at  Sunderland,  which  is  representative  of 
what  the  Poles  are  doing  in  South  Deerfield,  Deerfield,  Hatfield, 
Hadley,  North  Amherst  and  throughout  the  Connecticut  valley.3 

1  See  ch.  II,  sees.  1,2,    Private  and  State  employment  agencies. 
7  keporta  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  22. 

•  Among  these  are  some  Slovaks  and  Lithuanians,  but  as  the  Poles  predominate  they  are  all 
known  as  Poles  throughout  the  valley. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  93 

This  settlement  began  in  the  early  80's  when,  because  of  the 
shortage  of  farm  labor,  two  men  in  Sunderland  went  to  New 
York  and  persuaded  some  Poles  who  were  just  landing  to  re- 
turn with  them  to  the  tobacco  fields  of  western  Massachusetts. 
These  early  employment  agents  collected  the  first  month's 
wages  as  their  fee,  and  found  it  a  profitable  enterprise. 

After  a  few  years  relatives  and  friends  came  to  join  the 
earlier  comers,  and  the  profits  of  the  labor  brokers  fell  off. 
Since  then,  "every  year  a  few  men  have  come  over  from 
Europe  to  supply  the  growing  demand  for  the  farm  labor  neces- 
sary to  handle  the  tobacco  and  onion  crops  successfully."  1 

As  for  their  previous  occupations,  "In  the  case  of  the  31 
Lithuanian  males  [from  whom  information  was  obtained],  12 
were  working  for  wages  as  farm  laborers,  10  were  on  their 
fathers'  farms,  3  were  farmers,  2  were  without  occupation  and  1 
each  were  engaged  in  the  following  occupations:  tailor,  black- 
smith, stone  mason  and  post-office  employee.  Of  the  41  Polish 
men,  28  were  working  on  their  fathers'  farms,  4  were  farm 
laborers,  3  were  farmers,  2  were  without  occupation  and  1 
each  were  engaged  in  the  following  occupations:  liquor  dealer, 
soldier,  spinner  and  carpenter."  2 

Beginning  as  farmhands  they  became  renters,  and  are  now 
owners  of  a  very  large  part  of  the  land  in  that  section.  Of  the 
effect  of  their  settlement  on  the  community,  the  United  States 
Immigration  Commission  says :  — 

The  economic  effect  of  immigration  upon  this  community  is  very 
noticeable.  In  many  cases  where  the  immigrant  has  bought  a  farm  he 
has  increased  the  number  of  acres  cultivated.  According  to  the  neighbor- 
ing natives  the  "Polander"  who  bought  a  farm  with  none  of  the  land  in 
tillage  has  cleared  wood  lots  and  cultivated  pastures  that  had  never 
been  broken  up,  making  the  community  more  prosperous  and  the  farms 
more  valuable.  .  .  .  Investigation  confirms  the  popular  opinion  that  the 
foreigners  in  the  [Connecticut]  valley,  whether  engaged  in  tobacco  raising, 
onion  growing  or  trucking,  are  prosperous  and  progressive.  The  old 
New  England  farmers  no  longer  laugh  at  the  farm  practices  of  the  new- 
comers; many  of  them  unwillingly  admit  that  there  is  little  in  farm 
methods  that  they  can  teach  the  "Polanders."  3 

The  social  adjustments  have  not  been  so  simply  made.  The 
conservative  New  England  farmer,  while  unable  to  resist  the 

1  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  22,  p.  313. 
*  Idem,  p.  297.  *  Idem,  pp.  320,  321. 


94  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

high  prices  offered  him  for  his  land,  and  while  admitting  the  in- 
dustry, success  and  general  morality  of  the  newcomers,  has  re- 
sented their  presence.  The  Sunday  entertainments  and  dancing, 
so  frequently  complained  of,  are  only  a  few  of  the  many  dif- 
ferences in  tradition  and  custom  which  make  social  friction  in- 
evitable. All  agree,  however,  that  these  difficulties  are  not 
encountered  among  the  children,  and  that  at  school  there  is 
little  of  the  feeling  of  unlikeness  in  the  two  groups  which  has 
made  social  intercourse  between  their  parents  difficult. 

This  settlement  can  therefore  be  looked  upon  as  successful. 
The  immigrants  have  become  permanent  settlers,  owners  of 
property  and  contributors  to  the  development  of  agriculture  in 
that  section. 

There  are  in  Massachusetts  many  other  smaller  settlements 
of  immigrant  farmers  who  represent  the  so-called  newer  immi- 
gration. Among  others,  the  Portuguese  on  Cape  Cod,  the 
Italians  near  Concord  and  Sudbury,  and  the  Russians  near 
Wrentham,  have  succeeded  in  getting  upon  farms  and  keeping 
up  their  payments. 

In  1910,  according  to  the  United  States  Census,  there  were 
8,362  foreign-born  owners  of  farms  in  Massachusetts.  "Those 
born  in  Canada  numbered  2,277;  Ireland,  1,522;  England,  994; 
Germany,  598;  and  Sweden,  520.  Austria,  France,  Italy,  Po- 
land, Russia  and  Scotland  each  had  between  100  and  500  repre- 
sentatives, while  Bohemia,  Denmark,  Holland,  Hungary,  Nor- 
way, Switzerland  and  Wales  each  had  less  than  100." 1 

Of  those  from  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe,  many,  like  the 
Poles,  began  as  farmhands;  others  saved  enough  to  enable 
them  to  make  their  first  payment  on  the  land  and  purchase 
their  seed  and  a  few  inexpensive  implements  before  they  left 
the  factory  in  which  they  were  employed.  Others  have  com- 
bined working  in  the  factory  with  farming,  until  the  latter  was 
on  such  a  basis  as  to  make  it  safe  for  them  to  give  their  entire 
attention  to  agriculture. 

Because  this  movement  from  the  town  to  the  land  is  going 
on,  some  argue  that  the  problem  of  establishing  on  the  farm 
the  immigrant  who  wants  to  be  there,  and  is  qualified  to  make 
a  success  of  it,  is  solving  itself.     This  is,  of  course,  an  entirely 

1  U.  8.  Thirteenth  Census  (1910),  Abstract  with  Supplement  for  Massachusetts,  p.  619. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  95 

unjustifiable   conclusion,  since  it  takes  account  only  of    those 
who  succeed  and  not  of  the  many  more  who  fail  unnecessarily. 

Many  people  feel  that  the  immigrant  is,  at  any  rate,  not 
different  from  the  American  who  sees  in  farm  life  his  only  hope 
for  real  independence,  but  who  has  no  idea  how  he  may  ac- 
complish his  ambition.  In  many  ways  this  is  true,  and  in  so 
far  as  it  is  so  the  American  and  the  immigrant  should  be  con- 
sidered together.  But  for  the  immigrant  who  has  been  here  a 
very  short  time  a  different  kind  of  guidance  is  often  needed 
from  that  which  must  be  given  the  American.  He  may  have 
done  more  farm  work,  but  he  is  much  more  ignorant  of  Ameri- 
can conditions  and  general  land  values  than  even  the  city- 
bred  American.  The  immigrant  is,  moreover,  being  constantly 
told  by  foreign  bankers  that  <he  purchase  of  land  in  Europe 
is  the  only  way  by  which  a  successful  return  to  the  land  is 
possible. 

In  securing  the  personal  history  schedules  of  immigrants,  the 
investigators  of  the  commission  came  across  cases  of  this  sort. 
For  example,  a  Ruthenian,  now  thirty  years  old,  who  was  a 
farmer  in  Europe,  came  to  this  country.  He  and  his  wife, 
whom  he  married  a  few  years  ago,  are  both  working  in  a  cotton 
factory,  and  are  buoyed  up  by  the  hope  that  they  will  be  able 
to  save  enough  money  to  go  back  to  Galicia  and  live  on  a 
farm.  There  he  will  probably  pay  from  $250  to  $450  an  acre 
for  land  which  has  been  worked  for  many  generations.  The 
possibility  of  independence  on  a  farm  in  Massachusetts  is  there- 
fore much  greater  than  in  Galicia.  But  he  knows  nothing  of 
farm  opportunities  in  Massachusetts. 

Unscrupulous  land  agents  canvass  the  immigrant  colonies, 
telling  in  glowing  terms  of  the  amount  that  can  be  realized 
on  farms  in  Florida,  Texas,  Colorado  or  some  other  far-away 
place.  The  immigrant's  ignorance  of  the  geography  of  the 
United  States,  and  of  the  social  and  economic  conditions  in  the 
various  States,  makes  it  impossible  for  him  to  judge  of  the 
truth  of  their  statements.  As  a  result,  men  who  have  been 
eagerly  saving  little  by  little  in  the  hope  of  getting  out  of  the 
mill  are  compelled  to  "give  it  up,"  and  their  failure  convinces 
their  friends  that  for  a  successful  experiment  along  this  line 
they  must  return  to  Europe. 


96  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

During  the  few  months  that  the  commission  has  been  at 
work  it  has  received  letters  from  many  immigrants  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  in  other  States,  asking  how  they  can  recover 
money  lost  in  this  way,  or  where  they  can  find  out  what  the 
land  on  which  they  had  been  making  payments  for  several 
years  is  worth. 

The  Division  of  Information  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Immigration  should  furnish  reliable  information  as  to  farm  op- 
portunities in  the  country  generally,  and  it  has  published  a 
series  of  bulletins  on  this  subject;  but  when  unsupplemented 
by  oral  explanation,  these  are  too  general.  Moreover,  they  have 
not,  as  yet,  been  translated  into  the  various  languages,  and  no 
adequate  plan  has  been  adopted  for  their  distribution. 

However,  it  is  probably  true  that  settlement  in  Massachu- 
setts, where  their  relatives  and  friends  live  and  where  their  first 
experience  has  been  gained,  offers  the  greatest  possibility  of 
success  for  these  people.  And  the  agricultural  development  of 
Massachusetts  requires  their  labor.  Much  of  the  uncultivated 
land  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  could  produce  grapes  under 
the  painstaking  cultivation  of  the  Italian  as  profitably  as  the 
lands  in  the  west  of  the  State  have  produced  tobacco  and 
onions  when  owned  by  the  Polish  farmers.  But  it  is  practi- 
cally impossible  for  the  immigrant  to  obtain  reliable  informa- 
tion concerning  farm  lands  in  Massachusetts. 

As  a  first  step  in  the  protection  of  the  native  or  immigrant 
city  worker  who  contemplates  farming  as  his  future  occupation, 
the  Commonwealth  should  undertake  a  scientific  "exploration" 
of  the  farm  lands  of  the  State.  If  the  information  thus  se- 
cured were  made  available  to  the  prospective  purchaser,  the 
American  would  be  able  to  protect  himself  against  many  of 
the  frauds  from  which  he  now  suffers. 

For  the  immigrant,  something  more  is  necessary.  The  in- 
formation made  available  by  such  an  exploration  must  be 
passed  on  to  him  by  some  one  who  speaks  his  language,  and 
with  whom  he  comes  in  contact  in  other  ways;  some  one  who 
can  tell  him  in  terms  of  his  own  experience  the  information 
which  the  State  has  secured  about  the  particular  piece  of  land 
he  is  considering  purchasing,  and  what  the  usual  price  of  land 
in  that  vicinity  is;   some  one  who  will  explain  to  him  the  neces- 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  97 

sity  of  having  his  title  to  the  property  examined,  and  will  go 
over  with  him  the  provisions  of  the  contract  that  he  is  asked  to 
sign,  explaining  the  method  of  payment  and  such  reservations 
as  it  may  contain. 

All  of  this  could  be  done  with  very  little  expense  and  great 
value  to  the  State  by  a  specially  qualified  person  under  the  State 
Board  of  Immigration,  which  this  commission  believes  should  be 
established.1  Before  the  immigrant  had  settled  on  his  land  the 
co-operation  of  the  Extension  Department  of  the  State  Agricultu- 
ral College  could  be  secured  by  such  a  Board,  and  so  when  he 
began  the  chances  of  success  would  be  all  in  his  favor  in- 
stead of  against  him  as  at  present. 

Section  3.    The  Immigrant  in  Business. 

That  exceptional  ability  has  enabled  a  few  immigrants  of 
every  nationality  to  become  distinguished  in  business  or  pro- 
fessional life  in  an  incredibly  short  time  is  a  matter  of  common 
knowledge.  It  is,  however,  not  so  well  known  that  a  very  large 
number  of  recent  immigrants  are  in  business  in  a  small  way  for 
themselves.  The  census  figures  show  that  since  1870  the  per 
cent  of  the  foreign-born  engaged  in  trade  and  transportation  has 
steadily  increased.2  The  latest  figures  available  are  for  1905.3 
At  that  time,  90,001,  or  16.6  per  cent  of  all  the  foreign-born  per- 
sons in  Massachusetts  in  gainful  occupations,  were  engaged  in 
trade  and  transportation,  and  the  foreign-born  comprised  27.1 
per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  persons  so  engaged.  Although, 
o'f  course,  a  very  large  per  cent  of  those  90,001  persons  were 
employed  in  trade  and  transportation,  and  were  not  carrying 
on  business  for  themselves,  nevertheless,  it  is  true  that  many 
thousand  recent  immigrants  are  successfully  conducting  small 
stores,  shops  and  independent  businesses. 

The  great  preference  of  the  Greek,  the  Syrian,  the  Armenian 
and  the  Russian  Jew  for  trading  proves  sometimes  a  disad- 
vantage. It  is  said  that  among  these  and  among  the  Italians 
the  proportion  of  the  persons  who  engage  in  business  is  three 
or  four  times  greater  than  among  other  nationalities.4  The 
clothing  stores  of  the  Russian  Jews,  the  candy  stores  of  the 
Greeks,   the  fruit  stores  of  both  the  Greeks  and  the  Italians, 

1  See  p.  215.  *  Census  of  Massachusetts,  1905.     (See  Appendix  E.) 

2  See  Appendix  E.  *  Roberts,  Peter,  The  New  Immigration,  p.  103. 


9S  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

and  the  Oriental  shops  of  the  Asiatics  have  often  a  large 
native  American  as  well  as  immigrant  patronage.  Among  other 
nationalities  the  stores  are  usually  patronized  only  by  their 
own  people. 

In  most  cases  the  immigrant  must  accumulate,  after  his  ar- 
rival in  the  United  States,  the  little  capital  with  which  to  launch 
a  business  enterprise.  Frequently  the  wife  joins  her  husband  in 
the  factory,  so  that  the  savings  may  accumulate  more  rapidly 
and  the  grocery  or  confectionery  store  may  the  sooner  be 
opened. 

Examples  of  success  and  failure  in  business  are  easy  to  find. 
Dr.  Peter  Roberts  tells  of  a  Russian  in  Lowell  who  began  work 
in  a  shoe  factory  at  $6  a  week,  and  in  five  years  was  success- 
fully conducting  a  bakery  of  his  own.1  In  its  investigations  the 
commission  found  many  such  cases.  A  Greek,  for  example, 
came  to  this  country  "to  make  money,"  hoping  at  some  time 
to  be  able  to  return  to  his  own  country.  He  found  employ- 
ment after  a  few  days  in  a  hosiery  mill,  where  he  worked  at 
'  boarding,"  earning  from  $10  to  $11  a  week.  After  four 
years  he  left  the  mill  and  invested  all  his  savings  in  a  stock  of 
groceries.  He  has  prospered;  and  although  he  has  made  one 
visit  to  Greece  he  calls  Massachusetts  his  home. 

A  Russian  Jew  came  to  the  United  States  to  avoid  army  serv- 
ice. He  was  a  woodsman  in  Russia,  but  as  soon  as  he  came 
to  this  country  his  friends  started  him  off  as  a  dry-goods 
jobber.  After  six  months  of  this  he  found  he  could  not  earn  a 
living  and  became  a  junk  peddler.  In  a  little  more  than  four 
years  he  started  a  junk  store  of  his  own.  He  is  doing  well,  has 
money  in  the  bank,  has  brought  his  family  to  America  and  has 
sent  home  some  money  every  year. 

The  business  failures  are  perhaps  even  more  common.  The 
pathetic  struggles  of  Mary  An:in's  father  to  establish  himself 
in  business  upon  his  arrival  in  this  country  are  typical  of  the 
experiences  of  many  immigrants.2  When  his  family  joined  him 
in  Boston  he  had  already  spent  three  years  in  making  a  number 
of  false  starts  in  business.  His  next  enterprise  was  a  res- 
taurant booth  at  Crescent  Beach;  when  this  failed  he  opened 
a  basement  grocery  store  in  Chelsea;    and  when  this  too  failed 

1  Roberts,  Peter,  The  New  Immigration,  p.  104. 

2  Antin,  Mary,  The  Promised  Land,  ch.  9. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  99 

he  moved  the  family  to  the  South  End  of  Boston,  where  he 
opened  another  basement  grocery  store. 

The  business  daring  which  tempts  the  immigrant  to  risk  all 
his  savings  in  some  business  enterprise  means  pathetic  failures 
as  well  as  successes.  In  the  course  of  its  investigation  the  com- 
mission found  a  young  Armenian  who  began  when  fifteen 
years  old  in  a  factory  which  manufactures  cotton  machinery. 
After  five  years  he  had  saved  enough  money  to  pay  back  the 
sum  he  had  borrowed  for  his  passage  and  to  buy  a  fruit  store. 
He  ran  the  store  for  three  months,  lost  the  $450  which  he  had 
saved,  and  has  now  gone  back  to  the  factory.  He  is  working 
at  his  old  job,  at  his  old  wages  of  $8.55  a  week,  and  is  looking 
forward  to  the  time  when  he  can  again  go  into  business  for 
himself. 

A  Greek  boy  who  had  been  a  vineyard  laborer  in  his  own 
country  came  to  the  United  States  when  he  was  nineteen 
years  of  age.  After  a  few  days  spent  in  search  of  work  he 
secured  a  place  in  the  dye-house  of  a  hosiery  mill.  Here  he 
worked  five  years,  making  from  $8  to  S9  a  week  at  piecework. 
Finally,  he  took  the  money  which  he  had  been  able  to  save 
and  bought  a  confectionery  store  in  one  of  the  summer  resort 
towns  of  New  Hampshire.  Eventually  he  failed,  went  back  to 
the  mill  where  he  had  originally  been  employed,  and  has  been 
working  there  since,  earning  from  $10  to  $12  a  week. 

Failure  in  retail  business  is,  however,  the  common  story 
among  Americans  as  well  as  among  immigrants.  The  fact  that 
the  immigrant,  peculiarly  handicapped  by  his  ignorance  of  the 
language  and  of  American  customs,  succeeds  in  so  many  in- 
stances is  more  remarkable  than  that  he  shares  in  the  failures 
of  the  ordinary  beginners  in  business.  In  his  business  under- 
takings, therefore,  the  immigrant  presents  no  special  problem, 
nor  one,  in  the  absence  of  fraud,  with  which  the  State,  as  such, 
is  concerned. 


100  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  THE  PUBLIC  MORALS. 

Section  1.    The  Criminal  Record  of  the  Immigrant. 

Has  the  immigrant  increased  the  volume  of  crime  in  the 
country,  and  if  so,  what  races  are  responsible  for  the  increase, 
are  the  first  questions  that  are  asked  in  this  connection.  The 
United  States  Immigration  Commission,  after  a  very  careful 
study  of  the  penal  records  of  Massachusetts  and  of  New  York 
City  and  State,  of  the  police  statistics  of  Chicago,  and  of  the 
United  States  Census  reports,  concluded  that:  — 

No  satisfactory  evidence  has  yet  been  produced  to  show  that  immigra- 
tion has  resulted  in  an  increase  in  crime  disproportionate  to  the  increase 
in  the  adult  population.  Such  comparable  statistics  of  crime  and  popula- 
tion as  it  has  been  possible  to  obtain  indicate  that  immigrants  are  less 
prone  to  commit  crime  than  are  native  Americans. 

The  statistics  do  indicate,  however,  that  the  American-born  children 
of  immigrants  exceed  the  children  of  natives  in  relative  amount  of  crime.1 

It  was  found,  however,  that  while  immigration  had  not  in- 
creased the  volume,  it  had  changed  the  character  of  crime; 
that,  for  example,  it  has  relatively  increased  crimes  of  personal 
violence,  such  as  homicide,  assault,  abduction  and  rape,  and 
what  are  known  as  offenses  against  public  policy,  i.e.,  disorderly 
conduct,  drunkenness,  vagrancy,  the  violation  of  city  or- 
dinances and  other  offenses  incident  to  city  life.2  On  the  other 
hand,  gainful  offenses,  are  less  frequently  committed  by  the 
immigrant  than  by  the  native  American.  These  generaliza- 
tions, based  upon  figures  gathered  from  the  country  as  a  whole, 
are  often  much  affected  by  local  conditions,  but  they  apply 
in   a  general  way  to  Massachusetts. 

The  twelfth  annual  report  of  the  Board  of  Prison  Commis- 
sioners of  Massachusetts  (1912)  shows  the  prisoners  of  the  State 
to  have  been  divided  among  the  native  and  foreign  born  as 
follows:  — 

1  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  36,  p.  1. 
*Idem,  p.  2. 


1914.1 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


101 


Table  13.  —  General  Nativity  of  Persons  committed  to  Penal  Institutions 
in  Massachusetts  in  1912,  and  Per  Cent  Distribution  by  General 
Nativity  of  the  Total  Population  in  1910} 


Persoxs  committed. 


Number.       Per  Cent 


Total  native-born, 

Total  foreign-born 

Foreign-born  from  English-speaking  countries, 
Foreign-born  from  non-English  speaking  countries, 
Total, 


15,133 
12,310 


9,493 
2,817 


27,4432 


55.1 
44.9 


34.6 
10.3 


100.0 


Per  Cent 
oi  Total 
Popula- 
tion, 1910. 


68.5 
31.5 


15.1 
16.4 


100.0 


These  figures  show  a  disproportionate  amount  of  crime  among 
the  foreign-born,  for  although  they  constitute  only  31.5  per  cent 
of  the  total  population,  they  furnish  44.9  per  cent  of  the 
prison  population.  Of  these  foreign-born  offenders,  the  number 
of  those  who  come  from  English-speaking  countries  is  dispro- 
portionately large,  as  they  constitute  34.6  per  cent  of  all  those 
committed  to  penal  institutions,  and  only  15.1  per  cent  of  the 
total  population,  while  those  who  come  from  non-English  speak- 
ing countries  constitute  only  10.3  per  cent  of  those  committed 
and  16.4  per  cent  of  the  total  population.  These  figures  are  open 
to  the  criticism  that  comparison  should  be  made  on  the  basis 
not  of  the  total  population,  but  of  the  male  population  fifteen 
years  of  age  and  over,  inasmuch  as  the  proportion  of  women  and 
children,  who  furnish  a  small  per  cent  of  the  prison  population 
of  any  nationality,  is  so  much  smaller  among  the  recent  immi- 
grants. On  this  basis  the  foreign-born  make  a  better  showing, 
for  they  constitute  42.8  per  cent  of  the  male  population  fifteen 
years  of  age  and  over,  as  compared  with  31.5  per  cent  of  the 
total  population.  Unfortunately,  the  figures  are  not  available 
for  the  various  nationalities  among  the  foreign-born.  That 
they  would  show  a  further  reduction  of  the  already  dispropor- 
tionately small  number  of  offenders  among  immigrants  from 
non-English  speaking  countries  is  obvious.3 

1  Compiled  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Prison  Commissioner  a,  1912, 
and  the  U.  S.  Twelfth  Census  (1910),  Abstract,  p.  86. 

*  Nativity  of  11  persons  unknown. 

1  In  1912  (Annual  Report  of  the  Commisswner-Generm  of  Immigration,  p.  116),  64.7  per  cent  of 
the  non-English  speaking  immigrants  to  the  United  States  were  men,  while  of  the  English-speaking 
immigrants  only  52.9  per  cent  were  men. 


102 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


This  unavoidable  error  in  calculation,  due  to  the  absence 
of  statistics  as  to  age  and  sex,  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  in 
connection  with  the  following  table,  which  shows  the  nativity 
of  the  foreign-born  committed  to  penal  institutions  in  Massa- 
chusetts, together  with  the  percentage  of  nativity  of  the  total 
foreign-born. 


Table  14.  —  Foreign-born  Persons  committed  to  Penal  Institutions  in 
Massachusetts  in  1912,  by  Country  of  Birth;  and  Per  Cent  Distribu- 
tion of  the  Total  Foreign-born  Population  in  1910  by  Country  of 
Birth. l 


CorxTRY  of  Birth. 


foreign-borx 
Persons  committed. 


Number,    i  Per  Cent. 


i    Per  Cent 
il   Distribu- 
|l  tion  of  For- 
i ;   eien-born 
Population 
bv  Country 
of  Birth. 


Total  foreign-born  from  English-speaking  countries, 

Canada,2 

England,  Scotland  and  Wales, 

Ireland, 

Total  foreign-born  from  non-English  speaking  countries, 

Austria-Hungary, 

Finland, 

France, 

Germany, 

Greece, 

Italy, 

Norway,  Sweden  and  Denmark, 

Poland, 

Portugal, 

Russia, 

Turkey 

Other  countries, 

Grand  total, 


77.1 


22.9 


100.0 


60.7 


28.1 
11.6 
21.0 

3.5 
1.0 
.6 
2.9 
1.1 
8.0 
4.6 

2.5 

11.1 

1.5 

2.5 


39.3 


100.0 


According  to  this  table  the  immigrants  who  come  from  non- 
English  speaking  countries  constitute  39.3  per  cent  of  the 
foreign-born  population  of  the  State,  and  only  22.9  per  cent 
of  the  foreign-born  inmates  of  its  penal  institutions. 

1  Compiled  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Prison  Commissioners  of  Massachusetts, 
1912,  p.  88,  and  the  U.  S.  Twelfth  Census  (1910)  Abstract,  p.  204. 

»  No  distinction  is  made  between  Canada  English  and  Canada  French. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  103 

Whether  this  correctly  represents  the  relative  criminality  of 
these  groups  it  is  difficult  to  say.  It  is  probably  true  that 
better  regulation  of  immigration  is  resulting  in  the  exclusion  of 
more  undesirables  than  was  formerly  possible,  so  that  there 
should  be  less  crime  in  the  new  than  there  was  in  the  old  immi- 
gration. Among  all  nationalities  the  criminal  statistics  include 
only  those  offenders  whose  crimes  are  discovered  and  punished. 
It  is  sometimes  contended  that  the  Italian,  Polish,  Greek  or 
Syrian  offenders  are  not  so  surely  brought  to  punishment  as 
the  American  or  English-speaking  immigrant.  Representatives 
of  the  foreign  colonies  complained  to  the  commission  that 
serious  crime  in  their  midst  sometimes  went  unpunished  be- 
cause of  police  indifference,  while  arrests  and  convictions  for 
disorderly  conduct  were  unnecessarily  frequent.  Police  officials 
said,  what  is  also  probably  true,  that  immigrant  offenders  are 
harder  to  apprehend  because  of  a  racial  solidarity  that  makes  it 
impossible  for  an  outsider  to  secure  information  against  an 
offender.  It  is  probably  true,  also,  that  judicial  errors  which 
result  in  the  punishment  of  the  innocent  or  the  release  of  the 
guilty  are  much  more  apt  to  occur,  as  will  be  shown  later, 
when  the  defendant  is  unable  to  speak  English. 

So  far  as  immigrant  crime  is  concerned,  the  important 
question  is  whether  we  are  taking  the  same  precautions  for  its 
prevention  as  among  the  native-born  and,  if  we  are,  whether 
new  or  different  measures  are  necessary;  for  statistics  showing 
the  volume  of  crime  are  of  little  importance  except  as  they  are 
studied  in  connection  with  the  character  of  the  offenses  com- 
mitted, in  order  to  determine  what  preventive  measures  may 
be  adopted.  Unfortunately  such  a  study  is  impossible  because 
the  annual  reports  of  the  Prison  Commissioners  do  not  show  the 
character  of  offenses  by  nationality  or  country  of  birth,  and 
so  recent  figures  are  not  available.  From  the  original  records 
of  the  penal  institutions  of  Massachusetts,1  the  United  States 
Immigration  Commission  tabulated  the  offenses  and  the  na- 
tivity of  all  those  who  were  committed  during  the  year  ending 
October  1,  1909.  This  tabulation  shows,  among  other  things, 
that    in    Massachusetts  the  proportion    of    commitments    for 

!  These  aro  very  unsatisfactory  because  the  race  of  the  offender  is  not  recorded.  It  is  there- 
fore impossible  to  determine  whether  the  Austro-Hungarian,  for  example,  is  a  German,  a  Croatian , 
Maagyar,  a  Slovak,  a  Bohemian  or  one  of  the  other  races  of  those  countries. 


104  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

the  crimes  of  larceny  and  receiving  stolen  property  was 
greater  among  the  native-born  of  native  father  than  among 
any  other  group;  that  for  crimes  of  personal  violence  the 
proportion  of  commitments  was  greater  among  the  Italian, 
the  Austro-Hungarian,  the  Polish,  the  Russian,  the  German 
and  the  Finnish  groups  than  among  the  native  Americans  of 
native  fathers.  More  than  half  of  all  the  commitments  that  year 
were  for  drunkenness.  But  among  the  Italian,  the  Austro-Hunga- 
rian, the  German  and  the  Russian  less  than  50  per  cent  were  for 
this  offense.  Among  the  Italians  the  percentage  was  the  lowest, 
13.6  per  cent.  At  the  other  extreme  were  the  Irish  with  82.4  per 
cent,  the  Swedish  with  75.1  per  cent  and  the  Scotch  with  74.3 
per  cent.  In  the  case  of  the  native-born  of  native  fathers  53.5 
per  cent  of  all  commitments  were  due  to  drunkenness.1  In 
offenses  against  chastity  the  order  was  as  follows:  the  Italians 
showed  the  highest  per  cent  of  commitments,  the  Canadians  the 
next  highest,  native-born  of  native  father  third,  while  at  the 
bottom  of  the  list  were  the  Austro-Hungarians  fifteenth,  the 
Irish  sixteenth  and  the  Finns  seventeenth.2 

Before  a  program  for  the  prevention  of  crime  in  the  different 
national  groups  can  be  developed  it  is  obviously  necessary  to 
know  their  social,  environmental  and  psychological  characteris- 
tics. It  is  undoubtedly  true,  for  example,  that  in  so  far  as  a 
lack  of  proper  recreation  and  provisions  for  social  intercourse 
tends  to  result  in  immorality  among  young  men  and  women 
of  all  nationalities,  it  is  especially  serious  in  the  case  of  the  non- 
family  groups  of  young  foreign  men  and  the  young  immigrant 
wpmen  whose  needs  the  American  community  has  much  greater 
difficulty  in  understanding. 3  The  lack  of  proper  social  life,  to- 
gether with  the  absence  of  the  old  forms  of  social  control,  is 
undoubtedly  responsible  for  much  of  the  very  serious  and  often 
unnatural  moral  delinquency  which  is  found  in  non-family  groups 
of  single  men.  These  offenses  are  registered  in  the  hospital  in- 
stead of  in  the  police  records  of  the  State,  but  as  such  disease 
results  from  acts  which  by  the  law  are  called  crimes,  prevention 
is  a  social  and  not  a  medical  problem. 

1  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  36,  p.  172. 

*  Idem,  p.  178. 

*  See  ch.  Ill,  pp.  59-69  of  this  report. 


Bear  vlew'of  m  typical  three  decker 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  105 

Many  of  the  immigrant  offenses  are  chargeable  to  ignorance 
of  the  law;  for  example,  peddling  without  a  license,  violation 
of  the  laws  regulating  the  observance  of  Sunday  and  many  of 
the  health  ordinances.  While  it  is  important  that  the  last  should 
be  rigidly  enforced,  instruction  in  hygiene  and  sanitation,  coupled 
with  enforcement  of  the  health  ordinances,  is  the  only  intelli- 
gent method  of  meeting  this  difficulty,  and  yet  it  was  found 
that  such  education  for  the  newly  arrived  immigrant  had  not 
been  considered  necessary  by  most  of  the  boards  of  health  in 
the  State.  The  commission  therefore  recommends  that  the 
State  Board  of  Health  prepare  and  furnish  to  local  boards 
leaflets  and  illustrated  lectures  in  the  various  foreign  languages 
for  the  education,  along  this  line,  of  the  non-English  speaking 
people  of  Massachusetts. 

Often  an  objectionable  habit  or  custom  which  the  immi- 
grant brings  with  him  is  allowed  to  become  much  more 
serious  here,  because  of  American  indifference  or  lack  of  un- 
derstanding. For  example,  police  officers  agree  that  the  "  Poles 
would  not  give  us  any  trouble  if  it  weren't  for  their  weddings.' ' 
These  celebrations  often  last  several  days,  and  drunkenness,  dis- 
order and  sometimes  serious  crimes  are  the  result.  Because 
the  drinks  are  stronger  and  the  groups  are  more  largely  made 
up  of  young  people,  the  evil  effects  in  America  are  greater  than 
in  Europe.  Where  regulation  has  been  attempted  it  has  at 
once  reduced  the  excess  which  led  to  disorder  and  crime,  and  it 
is  believed  that  co-operation  between  the  church  and  the  civil 
authority  could  greatly  change  the  character  of  these  cele- 
brations. 

More  has  been  said  about  Italian  crime  than  about  that  of 
any  other  nationality,  but  there  has  been  little  if  any  dis- 
cussion of  prevention.  In  this  connection  it  is  encouragim: 
to  find  that  so-called  "Black  Hand"  crimes  are  practically  un- 
known in  Massachusetts.  As  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
Italian  population  in  this  and  other  States  come  from  southern 
Italy  and  Sicily,  the  absence  of  these  crimes  would  seem  to 
bear  out  the  contention  of  many  Italians  that  local  American 
conditions  are  responsible  for  these  criminal  organizations  else- 
where. Police  corruption,  which  takes  the  form  of  protection 
of  criminals,  enables  an  Italian,  sometimes  a  criminal  of  other 


106  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

nationalities,  to  develop  unmolested  in  an  Italian  colony  the 
Black  Hand  system  of  blackmail. 

While  Black  Hand  crimes  are  almost  unknown  in  Massa- 
chusetts, here,  as  everywhere,  the  Italian  commits  crimes  of 
violence  that  are  not  premeditated,  but  are  the  result  of  pas- 
sion. The  carrying  of  dangerous  weapons  has  been  prohibited 
for  many  years,  but  the  loose  way  in  which  they  are  sold  makes 
that  prohibition  impossible  of  enforcement. 

The  present  law  should,  therefore,  be  amended  so  that  fire- 
arms and  other  dangerous  weapons  could  be  sold  only  upon 
the  presentation  of  a  permit  from  the  police  authorities  of  a 
city  or  the  selectmen  of  a  town,  testifying  to  the  fact  that 
the  person  who  attempts  to  make  such  purchase  has  been 
duly  authorized.  Persons  engaged  in  the  sale  of  these  weapons 
should  be  required  to  keep  these  permits,  together  with  the 
date  of  sale  and  the  weapons  purchased,  on  file  in  their  places 
of  business,  and  should  be  required  to  notify  the  police  of  the 
number  of  the  permit  and  the  kind  of  weapons  purchased. 

On  February  3,  1914,  the  commission,  through  one  of  its 
members,  appeared  before  the  committee  on  legal  affairs  in 
support  of  the  bills  embodying  these  resolutions  which  were  then 
being  considered  by  that  committee.  Some  such  measure,  it 
is  believed,  would  long  ago  have  been  adopted  except  for  the 
activity  of  those  who  are  commercially  interested  in  the  sale  of 
such  weapons.  Certainly  for  the  prevention  of  crimes  of 
violence  legislation  along  this  line  is  absolutely  necessary,  and 
the  commission  strongly  urges  the  adoption  of  one  of  the 
measures  now  under  consideration. 

A  longer  discussion  of  the  immigrant  and  crime  would  only 
reinforce  what  has  been  said  many  times  in  this  report  in  other 
connections.  Applied  here  it  would  be  that  unless  the  tempera- 
ment, customs,  ignorance  of  American  laws  and  the  language 
differences  of  the  various  groups  are  carefully  considered  in  any 
program  for  the  reduction  of  crime  it  will  fail  to  accomplish  what 
otherwise  might  be  accomplished  in  preventing  crime  among 
immigrants. 

There  is,  however,  one  aspect  of  the  subject  which  deserves 
special  consideration.  In  so  far  as  a  failure  to  take  account  of 
these  differences  results  in  two  standards  in  the  enforcement  of 


1914.]  HOUSE  — Xo.  2300.  107 

the  law  on  the  part  of  the  police,  or  in  the  application  of  the 
law  on  the  part  of  the  court,  the  effects  cannot  be  measured  in 
criminal  statistics,  for  the  attitude  of  the  whole  colony  toward 
American  law  and  institutions  is  affected.  That  this  double 
standard,  one  American  and  the  other  immigrant,  does  often 
exist  is  undoubtedly  true.  That  it  is  due  not  to  intent  but  to 
careless  indifference  seems  equally  true,  but  it  is  believed  to  be 
of  sufficient  importance  to  make  necessary  a  more  detailed  study 
of  the  relation  of  the  immigrant  to  the  court. 

Section  2.    The  Immigrant  in  the  Courts. 
A.    Interpreters. 

The  municipal  or  police  courts  are,  to  the  immigrant,  the 
courts  of  surpassing  importance  as  object-lessons  in  American 
justice  or  injustice.  In  many  States  the  police  judges  and 
justices  of  the  peace  have  been  accused  of  the  grossest  abuse 
of  their  power  in  cases  where  immigrants  are  concerned,  so  that 
the  worst  possible  lesson  has  been  learned  by  the  immigrant 
in  his  first  conscious  contact  with  American  law.  Fortunatelv, 
this  has  been  prevented  in  Massachusetts  by  the  method  of 
appointment  and  by  the  traditions  surrounding  all  trial  justices. 1 
But  impartiality  and  intelligence  on  the  part  of  the  judge  are 
not  sufficient. 

In  these  courts  the  immigrant  appears  as  complainant  or  de- 
fendant, ignorant  not  only  of  American  law  and  court  proce- 
dure but  of  the  language  as  well.  The  judge  is  therefore  de- 
pendent upon  the  interpreter  for  his  knowledge  of  the  facts; 
the  intelligence,  honesty  and  impartiality  of  the  interpreter  are 
as  important  as  his  own. 

In  this  matter,  as  in  education,  the  importance  of  planning 
to  care  for  the  immigrant  in  accordance  with  American  stand- 
ards of  justice  has  never  been  really  faced.  Instead  of  re- 
sponsible interpreters,  those  provided  are  too  often  dangerously 

1  Justices  of  the  peace  have  no  authority  to  try  any  cases,  civil  or  criminal,  receive  complaints 
or  issue  warrants.  (Mass.  R.  L.,  ch.  161,  sec.  5.)  The  Governor  may  designate  a  justice  of  the 
peace  a  trial  justice  only  upon  the  petition  of  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  a  city  or  tne  selectmen  of 
a  town  in  which  neither  a  justice  of  the  police  or  district  court  nor  a  clerk  or  assistant  clerk  of  such 
courts  resides.  When  so  designated  he  may  issue  warrants  returnable  to  these  courts  and  take 
bail,  but  cannot  try  cases.  iMass.  R.  L.,  ch.  161,  sec.  3.)  The  position  of  the  justice  of  the  peace 
in  Massachusetts  is  therefore  similar  to  that  of  tbo  notary  public,  and  in  his  appointment  for  those 
duties  su^Ticient  discretion  is  not  exercised.     (See  ch.  VIII,  sec.  3,  on  Notaries  Public.) 


108  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

incompetent.  Recent  improvement  has  been  made  in  the 
Municipal  Court  of  Boston.  In  1912  a  law  was  passed  au- 
thorizing the  justices  of  this  court  to  employ  official  inter- 
preters. l  In  the  autumn  of  1913,  when  the  justices  desired  to 
appoint  under  this  statute  an  interpreter  for  the  Slavic,  Lithua- 
nian and  Yiddish  languages  by  civil  service  examination,  they 
found  that  the  Civil  Service  Commission  had  no  authority  to 
certify  interpreters.  The  commission  agreed,  however,  as  a 
matter  of  courtesy,  to  hold  the  examination.  This  examina- 
tion, which  was  mainly  a  test  of  the  applicant's  ability  to  trans- 
late these  languages,  brought  out  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
men  who  had  been  for  years  interpreting  about  the  Boston  court 
had,  a  totally  inadequate  vocabulary  both  in  English  and  in  the 
foreign  language. 

The  Municipal  Court  of  Boston  now  has  two  official  inter- 
preters who  are  paid  SI, 500  a  year,  and  are  used  for  court 
work  and  in  the  probation  service.  In  South  Boston  and  East 
Boston  and  in  other  parts  of  the  city  that  are  not  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Municipal  Court  of  Boston,  and  in  the  other 
cities  and  towns  of  the  State,  there  are  no  official  interpreters. 
Men  who  speak  Italian,  Polish,  Greek  and  other  foreign  lan- 
guages hang  about  the  court  in  the  hope  of  being  called  as  in- 
terpreters. The  judge  usually  calls  the  same  one  over  and 
over,  and  therefore  a  few,  although  never  really  appointed  as 
interpreters,  come  to  do  practically  all  the  interpreting  of  the 
court.  There  is  no  uniformity  in  the  matter  of  their  selection 
or  their  pay.  Some  receive  $2  for  every  case,  some  $2  for 
everv  dav  thev  are  used,  no  matter  in  how  manv  cases;  others 
are  paid  $3,  and  some  as  little  as  60  cents  for  a  day's  work. 
Most  of  these  interpreters,  although  they  may  have  some 
other  business,  are  practically  dependent  for  support  on  their 
employment  about  the  court. 

Owing  to  this  method  of  selection  and  payment  the  legiti- 
mate earnings  of  the  interpreter  are  wholly  inadequate  and,  in 
consequence,  he  may  be  tempted  to  take  money  from  those  in- 
terested in  the  outcome  of  the  case,  and  to  arrange  for  di- 
vision of  fees  with  some  " shyster"  lawyer  for  whom  he  acts 
as  runner.     In  every  city  in  which  investigations  were    made 

1  Massachusetts  Acts  and  Resolves,  1912,  ch.  648. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  109 

by  the  commission  complaints  of  dishonesty  on  the  part  of 
present  or  former  interpreters  were  heard.  Police  officers  and 
clerks  of  court  said  that  men  ignorant  of  English  as  well  as  of 
the  language  they  were  attempting  to  interpret  are  constantly 
accepted  as  interpreters  because  no  others  are  available.  In 
order  to  determine  the  general  truth  of  this  statement,  inter- 
preters who  are  used  in  four  different  cities  were  selected  quite 
at  random  by  the  commission  and  given  a  very  simple  test  as 
to  their  command  of  the  languages  that  they  testified  they 
were  interpreting  in  court.  One  of  the  men  met  the  tests 
given  satisfactorily;  the  others  were  quite  incompetent.  For 
example,  one  man  who  regularly  interprets  Polish  and  Lithua- 
nian in  the  South  Boston  court  was  asked  to  translate  from  a 
Polish  newspaper  a  paragraph1  which,  translated,  reads  as 
follows:  — 

Rochester,  N.  Y.  —  Frank  Zgodzinoki,  sixteen  years  of  age,  was  arrested 
for  stealing  coal  from  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  yard.  During 
the  hearing  of  the  case  it  was  learned  that  the  boy  was  sent  by  his  mother 
to  get  coal.  The  boy  was  discharged,  but  the  judge  threatened  to  send 
his  mother  to  jail  if  she  taught  the  boy  to  steal. 

Of  this,  the  interpreter,  after  reading  and  rereading,  was, 
according  to  the  stenographic  report,  able  to  make  out  the 
following:  — 

Rochester,  N.  Y.  —  There  was  arrested  16  March  Francis  Zgodzinoki 
for  —  something  about  the  mother.  I  understand  some  the  mother  was 
arrested  in  some  affairs.    Central  President,  that  is  New  York  Central. 

The  man  realized  his  inability  to  translate  it  and  offered 
various  excuses;  that  questions  are  asked  in  court  in  a  "quite 
different  way  entirely;"  that  "when  the  man  comes  upon  the 
stand  to  testify  we  know  what  he  is  going  to  say;"  and  that 
in  important  cases  the  judge  allows  him  to  use  a  dictionary. 
Another  interpreter  who  claimed  to  speak  and  understand 
Polish  but  not  to  read  it,  and  who  was  sure  he  could  translate 
this  same  paragraph  if  it  were  read  to  him,  translated  sentence 
by  sentence  as  follows:  — 

It  was  arrested  about  sixteen  years  ago  a  man  by  the  name  of  Francisco 
Zgodzinoki.    The  charge  was  the  larceny  of  the  New  York  Central.    He 

1  See  Appendix  Q  for  the  original  Polish. 


110  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

was  tried  and  acquitted.    His    mother  sent  a  boy.     He  was  asked  the 
question  whether  he  was  going  to  learn  the  children  to  steal. 

An  Italian  interpreter  translated  a  paragraph  taken  from 
an  Italian  newspaper  as  follows:  — 

Accusing  of  fraud  in  damage  of  certain  Siegfrid  Maas,  collector  of 
electric  house.  The  fellows  William  Tantoni  and  Romeo  Rinaldi  they 
appeared  before  Magistrate  Tennant.  The  day  of  12  last  May  in  Massa- 
chusetts Avenue  aggressed  and  robbed  of  S9.  They  were  arrested  and 
those  present  auditor  of  the  fraud  further  Rinaldi  and  Tantoni  and  a 
certain  William  King  they  are  confession  the  crime.  They  probated 
and  they  return  to  Rahway  Reformatory.  The  Tantoni  and  Rinaldi 
so  they  got  out  and  proved  their  innocence  and  they  were  set  free. x 

It  is  unnecessary  to  give  the  correct  translation  here.  The 
man's  ignorance  of  English  is  sufficiently  clear  to  indicate  that 
he  was  capable  neither  of  properly  putting  the  questions  of 
the  court  and  attorneys  nor  of  interpreting  the  answers  of  a 
witness,  yet  he  has  been  doing  such  work  about  the  courts  for 
the  last  fifteen  years.  He  said  he  interpreted  both  the  Sicilian 
and  Calabrian  dialects  also,  but  when  tested  he  failed  even 
more  completely  with  these.  According  to  his  testimony  he 
is  often  employed  by  lawyers  to  help  work  up  the  evidence 
before  the  trial,  and  he  usually  has  some  lawyer  to  whom 
he  refers  Italians  who  come  to  him  with  their  troubles.  This 
man's  own  statement  seemed  to  confirm  the  reports  which  the 
commission  received  that  he  is  not  only  ignorant  but  dishonest, 
and  is  deliberately  using  his  position  to  exploit  his  fellow 
countrymen  and  defeat  justice. 

A  common  complaint  is  that  an  Italian  undertakes  to 
translate  dialects  that  he  does  not  understand.  The  Pole 
who  knows  Polish  is  likewise  allowed  to  translate  Russian, 
Bohemian,  Slovak  and  the  other  Slavic  languages.  He  may 
perhaps  in  rare  cases  have  learned  all  these,  but  as  a  general 
rule  he  is  able  to  understand  something  of  what  is  being  said 
only  because  of  the  general  similarity  of  the  languages.  That 
means,  of  course,  that  he  is  entirely  unable  to  make  the  ac- 
curate translation  that  is  essential  in  the  administration  of 
justice. 

Since   the  judge   can   know  the   facts   only  through  the   in- 

1  See  Appendix  Q  for  the  original  Italian  and  correct  translation. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  Ill 

terpreter,  the  honesty,  competence  and  disinterestedness  of 
the  interpreter,  as  we  have  said,  are  as  essential  as  his  own. 
There  can  be  no  assurance  that  these  qualities  are  possess  1 
under  the  present  system,  or  lack  of  system.  It  is  important 
to  the  State  not  only  that  the  individual  concerned  should 
not  be  unjustly  punished  or  deprived  of  his  liberty,  but  that 
this  injustice  should  not  result  in  the  unfortunate  belief  that 
the  courts  are  unfair  to  the  foreigners,  and  that  those  who  are 
especially  charged  with  the  enforcement  of  the  law  lend  them- 
selves to  its  defeat. 

The  only  objection  that  can  be  made  to  official  interpreters 
whose  qualifications  have  been  tested  is  on  the  ground  of 
expense.  How  much  is  paid  under  the  present  fee  system 
could  be  learned  only  with  great  difficulty.  One  interpreter 
who  is  paid  $2  for  every  case  reported  that  he  was  paid  during 
November,  1913,  $104  by  the  county  and  $24  by  the  clerk  of 
the  court.  An  official  interpreter  on  a  yearly  salary  could 
certainly  be  employed  in  this  court.  Often,  however,  the  fees 
amount  to  from  $25  to  $50  in  a  month  and,  for  languages  seldom 
used,  to  very  much  less.  This  fact  does  not  seem,  however, 
to  present  insurmountable  difficulties.  The  Civil  Service 
Commission  could  prepare  an  eligible  list,  and  appointments 
when  made  should  be  from  such  a  list.  In  many  cases  an 
interpreter's  time  could  be  filled  by  assigning  him  to  the 
probation  service,  which,  because  of  the  language  difficulty, 
is  less  frequently  used  with  non-English  speaking  foreigners 
than   with  other  offenders. 

Neither  expense  nor  occasional  delay  should  outweigh  the 
necessity  of  having  for  interpreters  only  those  who  are  salaried 
officers  of  the  court,  appointed  only  after  a  thorough  test  of 
their  competence  by  the  Civil  Service   Commission. 

B.  Lawyers. 
I  neducated  and  often  unscrupulous  interpreters  usually 
have  some  lawyer  to  whom  they  direct  the  immigrant  and, 
according  to  reports  made  to  the  commission,  the  lawyer  and 
the  interpreter  often  conspire  together  to  encourage  the  filing 
of  complaints.  Not  infrequently  the  runner  goes  to  both 
parties  and  helps  them  to  work  up  their  cases,  receiving  fees 


112  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

from  both  and  promising  to  "look  out  for"  both  when  the 
case  comes  up  for  trial. 

The  lawyers  who  visit  the  municipal  courts  and  the  jails, 
offering  their  services  to  those  who  are  awaiting  trial,  or  who 
pay  these  interpreters  a  commission  on  cases,  are  usually  of 
the  lowest  grade,  both  in  honesty  and  ability;  and  yet  upon 
these  men  the  immigrant  is  dependent. 

Ignorant  of  all  his  legal  rights,  unable  to  talk  to  police,  at- 
torney or  judge,  he  must  have  some  one  who  will  explain  the 
charge  to  him,  notify  his  friends,  find  a  lawyer  for  him  and 
then  act  as  interpreter  in  his  dealings  with  his  lawyer  and  when 
his  case  comes  up  for  trial.  For  this  reason  the  "runner," 
whose  character  and  practices  are  so  well  known,  cannot  be 
excluded  from  the  courts  until  interpreters  and  attorneys  for 
the  defense  are  provided  by  the  State. 

That  an  innocent  man  should  not  be  convicted  is  as  im- 
portant to  the  State  as  that  a  guilty  one  should  not  escape.  If, 
as  is  often  charged,  we  are  making  rather  than  reforming  crim- 
inals, under  our  present  prison  system,  it  is  even  more  im- 
portant. Until  the  State  concerns  itself  with  the  protection 
both  of  the  Americans  and  of  the  immigrants  who  are  having 
their  first  experience  with  courts  of  any  sort,  they  will  suffer 
much  at  the  hands  of  these  lawyers.  Because  of  the  greater 
handicap,  the  immigrant  will  suffer  more  seriously.  How  he 
comes  out  in  his  first  direct  contact  with  the  law  will  do  much 
to  influence  his  future  in  America.  In  order,  therefore,  to  pre- 
vent crime  and  teach  respect  for  law,  provision  for  public  de- 
fenders should  be  made.  Massachusetts  will  in  any  case  not  be 
the  first  to  experiment  with  this  policy,  since  Los  Angeles  al- 
ready has  its  public  defender  as  part  of  its  judicial  system; 
but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  this  reform  as  in  so  many  others  she 
may  at  least  be  one  of  the  leaders. 

A  bill  providing  for  the  carrying  out  of  this  recommendation 
is  appended  to  this  report  (Bill,  p.  228). 

I1  he   Immigrant  in   the   Civil   Courts. 
In  the  civil  court,  too,  the  immigrant  suffers  at  the  hands  of 
interpreters    and    lawyers,    and    the    securing    of    "redress    for 
grievances"  is  very  expensive.     Cases  dealing  with  small  wage 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  113 

claims,  fraud  and  misrepresentation,  trouble  with  the  loan  shark 
or  the  company  that  sells  on  the  installment  plan,  personal  in- 
jury and  damage  suits  are  the  occasions  when  he  most  frequently 
finds  himself  in  need  of  counsel.  If  he  must  pay  both  interpre- 
ter and  lawyer  the  door  of  the  court  is  closed  to  him.  In 
many  cases  payment  of  either  is  not  warranted  by  the  amount 
involved,  and  yet  the  social  effects  of  the  prosecution  of  these 
cases  make  the  expenditure  necessary  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  welfare  of  the  community.  The  payment  of  the  interpreter, 
whose  impartiality  is  essential,  should  here,  too,  be  under- 
taken by  the  court. 

Lawyers'  services  could  be  arranged  for  through  a  legal  aid 
society  which  corresponds  to  the  dispensary  or  clinic  in  medi- 
cine. There  is  such  a  society  in  Boston,  but  its  existence  is 
not  known  to  the  immigrant  and  advertisement  presents  some 
difficulties.  A  State  Board  of  Immigration  such  as  is  recommended 
in  chapter  XIII  of  this  report  would  assist  in  applying  all 
the  private  as  well  as  public  resources  of  the  State  to  the 
needs  of  the  immigrant,  and  so  would  meet  this  difficulty.  In 
cities  where  no  regularly  organized  legal  aid  society  exists  some 
arrangement  for  disinterested  advice  by  the  local  bar  should  be 
possible.  This  is  a  matter  of  much  greater  importance  than 
is  generally  realized. 

Because  of  his  bitter  experiences  at  the  hands  of  the  petty 
exploiters,  and  because  of  the  misrepresentation  on  the  part  of 
interpreters  and  "  shyster  "  lawyers  through  whom  he  seeks  to 
obtain  justice,  the  immigrant  is  learning  some  of  the  ugliest 
aspects  of  our  life,  and  his  Americanization  along  right  lines 
is,  for  this  reason,  being  prevented  or  at  least  rendered  more 
difficult. 


114  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

EDUCATION. 

Education  is  and  must  always  be  a  most  important  factor 
in  the  solution  of  the  many  difficulties  and  misunderstandings 
that  come  with  a  highly  complex  population.  Only  by  educa- 
tion can  immigrant  children  representing  every  nationality  and 
every  grade  of  social  development  be  prepared  for  equal  partici- 
pation in  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship.  For  the  most 
part,  only  through  special  instruction  in  the  evening  schools 
can  the  adult  immigrant  be  given  the  opportunity  to  learn 
English,  to  supplement  his  inadequate  training  and  to  prepare 
for  naturalization. 

Knowledge  of  English  a  First  Requisite. 

To  speak  English  and  to  understand  it  is  the  vital  need  of  the 
immigrant.  Self-protection  requires  this;  social  safety  de- 
mands it;  without  it  assimilation  is  impossible;  upon  it  de- 
pends the  realization  of  the  obligations,  privileges  and  rights  of 
American  citizenship.  Insistently  urged  by  nearly  all  of  those 
whom  the  commission  has  met  in  public  hearing  or  private  con- 
ference, it  is  the  unanimous  judgment  of  the  commission  itself. 
To  the  diffusion  of  this  knowledge  the  Commonwealth  should 
address  itself  with  promptness  and  energy.  The  arrival  of 
from  70,000  to  100,000  newcomers  each  year,  most  of  whom 
are  unable  to  speak  English  and  consequently  —  if  neglected 
or  ignored  —  are  subject  to  the  abuses,  the  misdirection,  the 
prejudices  of  exploiters  and  irresponsible  agitators,  —  cannot 
but  strain  the  social  fabric  to  the  breaking  point. 

An  examination  of  the  various  agencies  through  which  the 
adult  immigrant  and  the  immigrant  child  are  being  prepared 
for  citizenship  was  therefore  considered  one  of  the  first  duties 
of  the  commission.1 

1  See  description  of  the  investigations  of  the  commission,  Appendix  A. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  115 


Section  1.    The  Public  Schools. 

The  public  school  must  receive  children  endowed  with  all  the 
inherited  prejudices  of  Europe  and  America,  and  is  expected 
to  transform  these  prejudices  into  a  sympathetic  understanding 
and  acceptance  of  differences  and  into  a  common  devotion  to 
the  welfare  of  all  the  people.  To  accomplish  this,  no  narrow 
conception  of  education  can  be  followed. 

In  an  immigrant  center,  the  children  come  from  homes  where 
the  industrial  struggle  is  most  difficult;  from  neighborhoods 
near  which  the  vicious  and  intemperate  are  apt  to  congregate 
and  where  congestion  is  most  serious.  The  schools  must  there- 
fore, as  Mr.  Woods  has  pointed  out,  "bring  light  and  life  and 
social  healing"  into  the  lives  of  these  children.1  The  teachers 
have  been  given  the  practically  impossible  task  of  offsetting,  by 
training,  in  a  pitifully  brief  time,  the  social  and  economic  dis- 
advantages under  which  these  immigrant  children  begin  life, 
in  order  that  they  may  have  the  "equal  opportunity"  which, 
we  like  to  believe,  is  offered  to  all  the  children  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. 

A.    Adaptation  of  Methods  of  Teaching  and  Course  of 

Study  in  Day  Schools. 

In  order  that  any  part  of  this  difficult  task  may  satisfac- 
torily be  accomplished,  the  most  careful  adaptation  of  edua- 
tional  methods  is  obviously  necessary;  but  in  most  cities  the 
immigrant  children  have  been  regarded  as  demanding  special 
consideration  only  when  their  ignorance  of  English  made 
proper  grading  impossible.  Twenty-six  cities  and  towns  in  the 
State  report  that  "steamer"  classes  are  provided  for  those 
children  who  are  above  the  primary  age  when  they  arrive. 
In  these  cities  and  towns  it  is  not  necessary  to  put  them  in 
classes  with  very  young  children,  to  the  disadvantage  of  both. 
Where  excellent  methods  are  used  and  proper  provision  is  made 
for  the  separate  instruction  of  those  who  have  had  little  school- 
ing in  Europe  and  of  those  who  have  had  much,  English  is 
learned  in  an  incredibly  short  time.    Sometimes,  however,  newly 

1  Woods,  Robert  A.,  The  City  Wilderness,  p.  231. 


116  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

arrived  immigrant  children  are  placed  in  a  "special"  class  with 
the  backward  and  subnormal  children  for  whom  quite  different 
methods  are  needed,  and  a  grave  injustice  is  thus  done  to  both 
groups. 

Except  for  these  "steamer"  classes  there  is  practically  no 
modification  of  method  or  of  course  of  study  for  the  education 
of  the  children  who  come  from  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe. 
As  an  evidence  of  fairness  to  the  immigrant,  some  superintend- 
ents reported  that  "no  distinction  is  made  between  the  foreign 
and  native  born."  Yet  it  was  long  ago  recognized  that  all 
teaching  must  be  carefully  adapted  to  the  background  of  each 
child's  life.  To  know  this  background  the  teachers  must  study 
the  modifications  of  the  old-world  customs  and  traditions  as 
they  are  found  in  Boston,  New  Bedford  and  Springfield.  They 
must  know  the  parents  as  well  as  the  children;  their  past  as 
well  as  their  present.  To  fail  to  do  this  means  much  more 
than  making  the  pedagogical  error  of  not  taking  advantage  of 
what  is  already  known. 

The  peasant  father  or  mother  who  comes  from  rural  Europe 
to  a  Massachusetts  city  or  town  to  new  work,  a  new  mode  of 
life  and  new  social  customs  almost  inevitably  suffers  from  a 
confusion  of  standards.  When  no  effort  is  made  by  the  schools 
to  reach  the  parents  directly,  these  fathers  and  mothers  are 
forced  to  depend  upon  their  children's  interpretation  of  what 
is  right  or  wrong,  necessary  or  unnecessary,  in  America.  The 
dependence  of  the  mother,  which  is  greater  than  that  of  the 
father  whose  work  opens  to  him  other  sources  of  information, 
is  peculiarly  unfortunate. 

There  is  a  growing  recognition  of  the  danger  in  this  situa- 
tion. Intelligent  teachers  are  finding  in  it  the  explanation  of 
the  fact  that  crime  and  delinquency  are  more  frequent  among 
the  "second  generation"  than  among  the  immigrants  them- 
selves. While  immigrant  parents  will  always  look  to  their 
children  for  help  in  understanding  America,  the  teachers  must 
keep  the  fact  constantly  in  mind  that  a  too  conscious  attempt  to 
educate  the  parents  through  the  children  results  in  a  reversal 
of  the  relationships  of  parent  and  child,  which  means  an  in- 
evitable breaking  down  of  parental  control. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  117 

For  this  reason  we  need  very  carefully  worked  out  plans  for 
teaching  respect  for  the  virtues  that  these  immigrant  parents 
possess.  Proper  emphasis  should  also  be  given  to  the  contri- 
bution that  Russia,  Italy,  Austria,  and  other  countries  have 
made  to  the  literature,  art  or  political  history  of  the  United 
States. 

The  large  number  of  these  children  warrants  the  most  care- 
ful working  out  of  a  theory  of  how  the  schools  can  " educate" 
the  immigrant  children  along  American  lines  and  at  the  same 
time  not  destroy  the  traditions  around  which  their  whole 
family  life  is  built.  The  United  States  Immigration  Commis- 
sion found  that  in  Chelsea,  for  example,  the  fathers  of  74.1  per 
cent  of  the  public-school  children  were  foreign-born,  and  that 
52.8  per  cent  came  from  countries  in  which  English  is  not  the 
native  language;  while  in  Fall  River  the  fathers  of  a  few 
more,  and  in  Boston  of  a  few  less,  than  one-third  of  all  the 
public-school  children  came  from  non-English  speaking  coun- 
tries.1 Failure  to  take  into  consideration,  in  the  planning 
of  the  work  and  play  of  these  children,  the  history  of  these 
immigrant  people  and  their  life  and  work  in  America  means  a 
needlessly  imperfect  education  for  all  such  children. 

B.    The  Education  of  the  Immigrant  in  Evening  Schools. 

So  far  as  the  State  is  concerned  there  has  been  practically  no 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  special  provision  must  be  made  for 
the  education  of  the  enormous  number  of  non-English  speaking 
immigrants  who  go  to  work  immediately  upon  their  arrival  in 
Massachusetts.  Since  1870  the  Commonwealth  has  required 
cities  and  towns  having  a  population  of  over  10,000  to  maintain 
evening  schools,  but  it  was  not  until  1898  that  instruction  in 
the  English  language  was  added  to  the  list  of  subjects  which, 
according  to  statute,  must  be  offered  in  these  schools. 2 

1  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  29,  p.  15. 

*  The  Legislature  first  formally  authorized  the  establishment  of  "adult  schools"  in  1857  (.Massa- 
chusetts Acts  and  Resolves,  ch.  189,  sec.  1).  In  1870  (ch.  248,  sec.  2)  cities  or  towns  having  a  papula- 
tion of  over  10,000  were  required  to  provide  evening  instruction  in  mechanical  drawing,  and  in 
1883  (ch.  174,  sees.  1,  2)  these  towns  and  cities  wore  required  to  maintain  9uch  night  schools  "for 
the  instruction  of  persons  over  twelve  years  of  age  in  orthography,  reading,  writing,  geography, 
arithmetic,  drawing,  the  history  of  the  United  States,  and  good  behavior."  In  189S  (ch.  496,  sec.  5) 
the  English  language  and  grammar,  physiology  and  hygiene  were  added  to  this  list  of  required 
subjects,  and  the  age  at  which  attendance  is  allowed  changed  to  fourteen. 


118  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

Since  1887 x  illiterate  minors  who  are  above  the  age  of  com- 
pulsory attendance  at  day  schools  have  been  required  to  attend 
these  schools.  The  law  passed  in  that  year  has  been  amended 
several  times  2  —  the  last  time  in  1913,  —  so  that  at  present 
every  minor  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  twenty-one,  em- 
ployed or  unemployed,3  married  or  single,  who  is  unable  to 
pass  the  requirements  in  reading,  writing  and  spelling  for  the 
completion  of  the  fourth  grade4  of  the  public  school,  is  required 
to  be  in  regular  attendance  at  public  evening  school  while  it  is 
in  session. 

The  passage  of  these  laws  is  all  that  the  State  has  done  to 
meet  this  problem,  and  the  first  question  is,  has  this  been  suffi- 
cient? A  comparison  of  the  number  of  illiterates  in  the  State 
and  of  the  number  in  attendance  at  the  evening  schools  shows 
that  much  more  must  be  done  by  the  Commonwealth. 

Illiteracy  in  Massachusetts  means  inability  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements for  the  completion  of  the  fourth  grade  in  the  public 
school.  5  Unfortunately,  there  are  no  figures  available  showing 
the  number  who  lack  this  rudimentary  education. 

The  following  table,  compiled  from  the  United  States  Census 
reports,  shows  the  number  unable  to  read  and  write  in  any 
language.  These  figures  are  based  not  on  tests  given  by  the 
census  enumerations,  but  on  the  statement  of  the  people  them- 
selves as  to  whether  they  were  able  to  read  and  write.  It  may 
therefore  be  assumed  that  the  census  figures  understate  rather 
than  overstate  the  numbers. 

1  Massachusetts  Acts  and  Resolves,  1887,  ch.  433,  required  attendance  only  if  the  illiterate  minor, 
since  reaching  the  age  of  fourteen,  had  been  for  one  year  continuously  a  resident  of  the  city  or 
town  where  the  evening  school  was  held. 

*  In  1889  (Massachusetts  Acts  and  Resolves,  ch.  135)  an  attendance  of  70  per  cent  was  substituted 
for  "regular  attendance."  This  was  repealed  in  1891  (ch.  317).  The  law  was  slightly  modified 
in  1898  (ch.  494,  sec.  7),  and  in  1912  (ch.  191)  the  word  minor  was  declared  to  mean,  "in  regard  to 
the  compulsory  attendance  of  illiterate  minors  at  day  or  evening  school  ...  a  person  under  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years." 

3  Massachusetts  Acts  and  Resolves,  1913,  ch.  467,  pec.  1;  ch.  779,  sec.  23. 

*  "The  ability  to  read  at  sight  and  to  write  legibly  simple  sentences  in  the  English  language" 
was  not  interpreted  by  legislation  until  1006,  when  provision  was  made  {Massachusetts  Acts  and 
Resolves,  ch.  284,  sec.  1)  that  it  should  "be  construed  as  meaning,  in  tho  yoar  nineteen  hundred 
and  six,  such  ability  to  read  and  write  as  is  required  for  admission  to  tho  second  grade,  in  the  year 
nineteen  hundred  and  seven  ...  to  the  third  grade,  and  in  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  eight 
and  thereafter  ...  to  the  fourth  grade.  .  .  ."  In  1913  (ch.  779,  sees.  1,  23)  the  test  was  made  the 
completion  of  the  fourth  grade. 

6  Massachusetts  Acts  and  Resolves,  1913,  ch.  779,  sees.  1,  23. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


119 


Table  15.  —  Number  and  Per  Cent  of  Persons  in  Massachusetts  Fifteen 
Years  of  Age  and  Over  unable  to  read  and  write  in  Any  Language  in 
1910,  1900  and  1890.1 


All  classes, 

Native  white  of  native  parentage, 

Native  white  of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage, 

Foreign-born  white 


Number  of  Persons 

Fifteen  Years  of 

Age  and  Over  unable 

to  read  and  write. 


1910.   1900.   1890. 


140,844 
3,302 
5,523 

129,064 


132,501 
3,759 
6,523 

118,527 


112,877 
4,052 
5,107 

100,733 


Per  Cent  unable  to 
read  and  write  of 
Total  Poput.ation 

Fifteen  Years 
of  Age  and  Over. 


1910. 

1900. 

5.7 

6.5 

.4 

.5 

.9 

1.3 

13.0 

15.1 

1890. 


6.9 

.5 

1.6 

16.9 


According  to  these  figures  the  per  cent  of  those  unable  to 
read  and  write  has  decreased  among  both  the  native  and  the 
foreign  born,  but  there  has  been  an  absolute  increase  from 
132,501  unable  to  read  and  write  in  1900  to  140,844  in  1910,  for 
which  the  foreign-born  are  entirely  responsible.  Ignorance 
of  English  on  the  part  of  an  increasingly  large  proportion  of  the 
foreign-born  has  made  this  whole  problem  of  illiteracy  a 
much  more  serious  one,  so  that  the  fact  that  the  number  of 
foreign-born  whites  in  Massachusetts  unable  to  speak  the 
English  language  increased  from  24  per  1,000  population  in 
1890  to  27  per  1,000  in  1900,  and  51  per  1,000  in  1910, 2  is  of 
special  significance. 

How  many  have  been  added  to  this  non-English  speaking 
group  since  1910  can  be  estimated  from  the  annual  reports  of 
the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Immigration.  Of  the  immi- 
grants who  arrived  during  the  year  ending  June  30,  1911,  and 
gave  Massachusetts  as  their  destination,  53,635  belonged  to  the 
non-English  speaking  races; 3  during  the  next  year  the  number 
was  slightly  larger,  —  54,964,  4  while  in  the  year  ending  June 

1  Population  figures  for  1910  compiled  from  U.  S.  Thirteenth  Census  (1910),  Abstract,  Table  12, 
p.  133.  Illiteracy  figures  for  1910  compiled  from  Thirteenth  Census,  Vol.  I,  Population,  p.  1220, 
Table  27.  Population  figures  for  1900  compiled  from  Twelfth  Census  (1900),  Population,  Pt.  II, 
Table  2,  p.  50.  Population  figures  for  1890  compiled  from  Eleventh  Census  (1890),  Population, 
Table  2,  p.  44.  Illiteracy  figures  for  1890  and  1900  compiled  from  Twelfth  Census,  Population,  Pt. 
II,  Tables  LIV,  LVIII,  LX,  p.  c,  civ  and  cvi,  and  from  Tables  LXVII.  LXVIII,  LX1X,  p.  cxv» 
cxvi  and  cxvii. 

*  U.  S.  Thirteenth  Census  (1910),  Vol.  I,  Population,  p.  1277,  Table  18. 

*  Annual  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  1911,  p.  33. 
«  Idem,  1912,  p.  87. 


120 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


30,  1913,  85,347  who  belonged  to  the  non-English  speaking  races 
came  to  Massachusetts.1  According  to  these  figures,  193,946 
immigrants  of  non-English  speaking  races  have  come  to  the 
State  since  1910,  when  there  were,  according  to  the  census, 
171,014  foreign-born  white  persons  ten  years  of  age  and  over 
unable  to  speak  English.  How  rapidly  this  number  of  people, 
very  few  of  whom  knew  English  on  their  arrival,  will  acquire 
the  language  cannot  be  predicted.  The  investigations  of  the 
commission2  showed  that  of  1,224  immigrants  from  whom  per- 
sonal history  schedules  were  secured,  504,  or  41  per  cent,  had 
learned  to  speak  English,  while  of  those  who  had  been  here 
less  than  three  years,  only  14.8  per  cent  were  able  to  do  this, 
as  the  following  table  shows:  — 

Table  16.  —  Length  of  Residence  in  the  United  States  together  with  Ability 
to  speak  English  of  1,224  Immigrants  in  12  Cities  and  Towns  of  Massa- 
chusetts from  whom  Personal  History  Schedules  were  obtained. 


Length  of  Residence  in  the  United  States. 

Able  to 
speak  English. 

«-' 
3 
9 

>* 

a 
-»* 

3 

9 

•4 

tr. 
m 

a, 

as 
73  o3 

«>< 
an  W 

a  a 

r  ■** 

00 
09 

s 

oo 

13  el 
C  O 

03  >H 
O0«* 

03  C 
«  c3 

CO 

9 

T3  e3 
C  <K 

00  u» 

|a 

O  o3 

00 

oo 

01 

T)  o3 
CO) 

-.  >- 
00  <S 

O  03 

r     •*> 

00 
00 
V 
00 

13  c3 

CO 

c3{* 

00  t" 

«  03 
(O 

oo 
oo 
9 

00 

T3  o3 
C  o 

03>H 
00  00 

Sc 

OJ   e5 

f 

00 

oo 

9 

"0  03 

c  a> 
C3>H 

00  0> 

03  C 
L0J  e3 
>H-S 

r    +» 

00 

oo 

02 

gX 

O 
00  *H 

o3  a 

®  03 

0> 

t 

o 
a 

03 

00 

E 

03 

>-< 

e 

5 

£1 

s 

3 
oj 

<-> 

o 

Yes,    . 
No,     . 

7 
128 

22 
102 

20 
51 

38 
65 

36 
47 

23 
37 

34 

37 

48 
40 

51 
34 

27 
27 

198 
152 

504 
720 

Total, 

135 

124 

71 

103 

83 

60 

71 

88 

85 

54 

350 

1,224 

Even  this  small  proportion  found  to  have  a  speaking  knowl- 
edge of  the  English  language  is  larger  than  the  enrolment  in 
the  evening  schools  and  the  money  expended  for  their  support 
would  lead  one  to  expect. 

During  the  school  year  1910-1911,  when  the  report  of  the 
United  States  Census  and  the  report  of  the  Commissioner- 
General  of  Immigration  showed  more  than  224,000  non-English 
speaking  persons  in  Massachusetts,  the  annual  per  capita  ex- 
penditure for  their  education  was  less  than  $1.3     With  this 

1  Figures  furnished  by  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration. 

1  See  Appendix  A. 

3  Annual  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Hoard  of  Education,  1913,  School  Returns,  p.  exxxix. 
Total  expenditure  for  evening  schools,  including  high  schools  and  industrial  classes,  was  $350,- 
608.76. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  121 

wholly  inadequate   expenditure,  60,785   were   en-       < 

rolled    in    the    evening   schools,    and   the   actual  ^  -  p. 

average  attendance  was  25,48s.1     Of  this  pitifully  \;' [• 

inadequate    enrolment    about    one-third    were    in  ££$ 

the    evening    high    school   and  industrial  classes,  ^\  \        g 
so  that,  when  approximately  224,000  represented 

the   number   of   non-English  speaking  persons  in  v  ••* 

Massachusetts,  the  total  enrolment  in  the  elemen-  \-y>       w 

tary  evening  classes  was  less  than  45,000,  and  the  sjtt  £       § 

average  attendance  about  17,000.  WS       a 

During    the    year    1912-1913,     of    the    85,347  pi        a 

additional   non-English  speaking   immigrants  who  gfe        | 

came    to    Massachusetts,    approximately   64,456 2  ^ 

were  over  fourteen  years   of    age.      During  that  <  V* 

year  the  increase  in  the  evening  school  enrolment  «£^        o  ~ 

was   only   1,454,    and  the  utterly   inadequate  ex-  jjwj&j 

penditure  of  the  previous  year  was  decreased.  $j^ 

The   accompanying    diagram    graphically  illus-  8||| 

trates   this  '  increase  in  the  non-English  speaking  J^       £  a 

population    of    Massachusetts  and  the  relatively  i#W 

much  smaller  increase  in  attendance  in  the  even-  |$$j 

ing  schools  of  the  State :  —  &*£* 

It   must   not    be   supposed  that   the  need  was  &fi| 

met    by    private  agencies.      The    Young    Men's  '& 'x 

Christian  Association  reports  that  it  enrolled  5,724  ;. 'Vj        §  » 

immigrant  men  in  the  elementary  English  classes  t/. «  i 

which  it  held  in  eighteen  cities  and  towns  in  the  \ 


■a  J2 
§2 


**  to 

°  2 

P  os 

03  .2 


v    o 

V       GO 

— 
52    bo 

5.2 

«~   a 

©   > 


S    • 
•2  g" 

State,  during  1912-1913.     Perhaps  800  more  were     '  v         -a  » 

c  o 


X    © 


W   c 

c  .2 

o 

□ 


in  the  classes  conducted  by  the  settlements,  the  - 
North  American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants  and 
local  church  organizations.  It  would  probably  be  ';  - 
understating  rather  than  overstating  it  to  say  that 
the  number  of  non-English  speaking  foreigners  who 
were  not  reached  during  that  year  by  either  our 
public  or  our  private   agencies  was  over  200,000. 

,    .  -s 

1  Annual  report  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Education,  1913,  School 
Returns,  p.  cxxxix.  a 

1  Thia  figure  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  among  the  immigrants  des- 
tined to  Massachusetts,  the  proportion  fourteen  veers  of  age  and  over  of 
each  nationality  was  the  same  as  for  those  admitted  to  the  United  States 
as  a  whole. 


| 

a 


122  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

These  figures  do  not  include  the  very  much  larger  number  of 
those  who  have  learned  to  read,  write  and  speak  English,  and 
who  should  be  included  in  any  educational  program  intended 
to  give  adequate  preparation  for  citizenship.1 

Law  requiring  Attendance  of  Illiterate  Minors  not  well  enforced. 

Last  year  all  illiterate  persons  between  the  ages  of  sixteen 
and  twenty-one,  who  were  living  in  towns  or  cities  where  public 
evening  schools  were  maintained,  were  required  by  law  to  at- 
tend these  classes  regularly  as  a  condition  of  their  legal  employ- 
ment at  any  kind  of  work.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  school 
census  includes  only  the  children  who  are  between  five  and 
fifteen  years  of  age,  there  is  no  way  of  determining  accurately 
how  many  under  this  law  should  have  been  attending  evening 
school.  From  the  personal  history  schedules  which  the  com- 
mission secured  it  was  found  that  out  of  254  persons  who, 
though  under  twenty-one  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  their  ar- 
rival in  the  United  States,  had  never  attended  night  school  122, 
or  48  per  cent,  had  lived  in  cities  or  towns  where  evening 
classes  were  held.2  All  of  these  were  illiterate  according  to  tbe 
Massachusetts  definition.  In  other  words,  48  per  cent  of  those 
whom  the  law  required  to  attend  regularly  had  never  been  in  an 
evening  class. 

Those  superintendents  of  the  night  schools  who  have  really 
worked  at  the  problem  will  not  be  surprised  to  know  that  the 
law  has  failed  to  reach  a  very  large  per  cent  of  those  for  whom 
it  was  designed.  The  schools,  they  will  say,  had  no  adequate 
machinery  for  reaching  every  employer  of  from  1  to  1,000 
illiterate  minors.  Even  with  the  co-operation  of  such  employers 
as  could  be  reached  and  persuaded  to  co-operate,  it  was  in 
many  cases  impossible  to  follow  the  immigrant  from  one  in- 
dustry to  another  because  of  the  changes  that  were  made  in 
name,  age  and  address.  The  discouraging  thing  is  that  the  super- 
intendents of  32  out  of  54  cities  and  towns  in  which  night  schools 
were  conducted,  who  reported  on  this  point,  said  they  en- 
countered "no  difficulties"  in  the  enforcement  of  this  law.  The 
only  conclusion  that  can  be  drawn  from  their  statements  would 
seem  to  be  that  they  have  made  no  attempt  to  enforce  it. 

1  See  chapter  vii .  on  Naturalization,  pp.  157-1C0. 

*  See  Appendix  A  for  description  of  the  general  investigations  of  the  commission. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  123 

The  new  law  regulating  the  granting  of  working  certificates, 
which  went  into  effect  in  September,  1913,  should  make  the  en- 
forcement of  the  law  much  easier.  But  even  with  the  require- 
ment of  re-registration  with  every  change  of  employment,  some 
method  of  checking  up  the  records  of  the  certificate  office 
with  the  records  of  the  evening  classes  will  have  to  be  worked 
out. 

Greek  Boys  in  "Shoe-shine  Parlors"  not  included  in  the  Present 

Certificate  Law. 

Moreover,  the  certificate  law  includes  only  factories,  work- 
shops, manufacturing,  mechanical  or  mercantile  establish- 
ments. l  In  these  the  employment  of  the  illiterate  minor  is 
legal  only  if  weekly  reports  from  the  principal  testify  to  his 
regular  attendance  at  night  schools  when  such  are  maintained. 

But  the  Greek  boy  who  works  in  a  "shoe-shine  parlor,"  or 
as  a  helper  on  a  peddler's  wagon,  or  the  Italian  who  begins  with 
the  pick  and  shovel,  is  not  required  to  furnish  his  employer 
with  the  evidence  that  he  is  obeying  the  law  which  requires 
him  to  be  in  regular  attendance  at  evening  school.  In  his 
case  there  will  not  be  the  double  check  of  attendance  officer 
and  factory  inspector. 

This  is  peculiarly  unfortunate.  Nothing  can,  however,  so 
effectively  end  the  abuses  found  in  connection  with  the  em- 
ployment of  Greek  boys  in  shoe-shine  parlors  as  the  enforce- 
ment of  this  law  compelling  attendance  at  evening  school. 
Most  of  these  boys  are  between  sixteen  and  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  and  the  exploiting  proprietor  knows  that,  as  soon  as 
they  have  learned  a  little  English  and  have  met  others  who 
have  been  in  this  country  longer,  his  game  is  spoiled.  So  he 
works  the  boys  long  hours,  boards  them  where  they  meet  no 
one  except  those  who  are  as  ignorant  of  American  conditions 
as  themselves,  prohibits  their  talking  to  any  one  who  enters 
the  shop,  and  thus  keeps  them  entirely  dependent  upon  him- 
self. There  is  no  one  who  can  break  through  this  system  ex- 
cept the  attendance  officer,  and  he  is  without  the  facts  that 
would  enable  him  to  enforce  the  law. 

1  Massachusetts  Acts  and  Resolves,  1913,  ch.  779,  sec.  15. 


124  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


United  States  Immigration  Officials  should  furnish  Truant 
Officers  with  the  Names  of  Arriving  Immigrant  Children. 

To  supply  the  attendance  officer  with  the  information  that  he 
needs,  the  school  census  must  be  required  to  include  all  minors. 
In  addition,  some  plan  of  co-operation  between  the  State  and 
the  United  States  Immigration  Bureau  should  be  worked  out 
that  would  inform  the  attendance  officer  of  all  those  who  come 
into  his  district  after  the  census  is  taken. 

Complete  records  of  the  names  and  ages  of  arriving  immi- 
grants, and  of  the  addresses  of  the  persons  to  whom  they  are 
destined,  are  kept  by  the  immigration  officials  at  the  ports. 
With  the  permission  of  the  United  States  Commissioner-Gen- 
eral of  Immigration,  school  authorities  could  therefore  be 
furnished  the  name,  age  and  address  of  every  child  destined 
to  their  district.  Such  information  would  enable  the  attendance 
officer  to  visit  the  house  or  establishment  armed  with  the 
facts  that,  because  of  language  difficulties  and  suspicion,  he 
could  otherwise  secure  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty.  Such 
information  would  be  of  great  assistance,  also,  in  securing  the 
immediate  enrolment  in  the  day  school  of  all  those  who  are 
under  fourteen  years  of  age  when  they  arrive. 

State  Supervision  of  Enforcement  of  Compulsory  Attendance  Law 

Necessary. 

A  study  of  the  lack  of  uniformity  and  thoroughness  in  the 
enforcement  of  the  old  attendance  law  indicates  that  legislative 
provision  for  new  and  improved  administrative  machinery  will 
not  enforce  itself.  It  is  obvious  that  a  new  and  better  cer- 
tificate and  attendance  law  will  not  keep  these  illiterate  minors 
in  regular  attendance  in  evening  classes  if  the  local  communities 
are  indifferent  as  to  whether  they  attend  or  not,  and  do  not  at- 
tempt really  to  enforce  the  law.  The  State  Board  of  Educa- 
tion could  give  valuable  assistance  by  suggesting  the  solution 
of  the  difficult  technical  problems  involved,  and  by  exercising 
such  general  supervision  as  would  promote  a  more  uniform 
enforcement  of  the  law  throughout  the  State. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  125 


No   Standards  for    Measuring   Effectiveness   in   Evening   School 

Teaching  of  Immigrants. 

It  has  been  shown  that,  so  far  as  numbers  are  concerned,  the 
evening  schools  do  not  in  any  sense  approximate  the  needs  of 
the  situation.  Furthermore,  judged  by  the  expertness  of  the 
teaching,  the  system  of  grading  and  classification,  the  regularity 
of  attendance  and  the  results  obtained,  most  of  the  evening 
schools  fall  far  short  of  even  a  moderate  degree  of  efficiency. 

"We  must  have  evening  schools  and  the  illiterate  minor 
must  attend;  if  the  adult  immigrant  does  not  care  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  opportunities  offered  him,  it  is  no  fault  of  ours," 
has  been  the  attitude  of  the  school  in  too  many  instances. 

The  only  real  concern  has  been  to  keep  down  the  expense. 
But  even  if  sufficient  money  were  available,  proper  improvement 
in  the  night  school  work  could  not  at  once  be  obtained,  for 
the  whole  problem  of  evening  school  organization  and  method 
of  instruction  has  received  practically  no  consideration  from  edu- 
cational experts. 

In  those  cities  that  have  the  best  evening  schools  there  is  the 
frankest  condemnation,  on  the  part  of  the  superintendents  and 
principals,  of  the  inadequacies  of  the  present  system.  They 
recognize  that  the  fundamental  difficulty  in  the  development 
of  the  evening  school  work  is  the  lack  of  standards  as  to  what 
can  be  accomplished.  At  the  present  time  little  is  known  about 
how  illiterate  adults  ought  to  be  taught  or  how,  for  example, 
the  teaching  of  illiterate  adult  Russian  Jews  should  differ  from  the 
teaching  of  illiterate  adult  Italians.  The  teaching  is  also  not 
modified  to  suit  the  different  ages  and  grades  of  preparedness 
found  among  the  representatives  of  each  nationality. 

During  the  last  few  years,  when  for  the  first  time  some  at- 
tention has  been  given  this  neglected  field  of  educational  op- 
portunity, the  discovery  wras  promptly  made  that  children's 
primers  do  not  contain  the  most  useful  or  interesting  vocabulary 
for  the  adult  foreigner;  consequently,  a  much  better  selection 
of  books  is  now  possible  and  generally  made  by  Massachusetts 
schools.  This,  while  important,  does  not  attack  the  funda- 
mental difficulties,  which  are  rather  a  lack  of  standards  as  to 
what  can  and  should  be  accomplished  in  a  given  period. 


126  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

The  Educational  Program  must  be  adapted  to  the  Different  Groups. 

The  first  step  in  the  more  efficient  organization  of  the  even- 
ing schools  of  the  State  is  the  recognition  of  the  difference  in 
the  possibilities  of  the  groups  that  must  be  educated  in  these 
schools. 

Those  who  are  between  fourteen  and  twenty-one  years  of  age 
at  the  time  of  their  arrival  constitute  a  very  large  per  cent  of 
the  young  people  who  are  coming  to  Massachusetts  from 
Southern  and  Eastern  Europe.  Many  of  these  are  from  dis- 
tricts where  education  is  still  the  privilege  of  the  few. 

From  a  purely  selfish  regard  for  its  own  welfare  the  State 
should  give  these  young  immigrants,  in  addition  to  an  ele- 
mentary knowledge  of  English,  as  much  general  education  as 
possible  and  some  vocational  training.  Indeed,  the  amount  of 
education  that  can  be  successfully  and  profitably  planned  for 
this  group  largely  depends  upon  the  stimulating  quality  of  the 
teachers  and  the  physical  endurance  of  the  pupils,  and  the 
latter  is  extremely  important.  In  the  case  of  the  immigrant 
girl,  although  she  brings  the  physique  and  endurance  of  the 
country  bred,  the  change  from  long  hours  of  work  out  of  doors 
to  ten  hours  of  work  in  the  spinning-room  of  a  mill,  or  of  dish- 
washing in  a  basement  kitchen,  usually  means  physical  ex- 
haustion at  the  end  of  the  day.  The  boys,  too,  after  the  slow, 
easy-going  pace  they  have  known  in  Europe,  find  the  change 
to  the  highly  specialized  industrial  organization  of  the  United 
States  equally  trying.  Neither  group  is  in  proper  condition  to 
receive  instruction  four,  or  even  two  or  three,  evenings  a  week. 
The  phenomenal  progress  that  some  have  made  in  the  past  is 
only  a  proof  that  their  eagerness  overcomes  their  physical 
weariness. 

The  difficulty  of  successfully  teaching  these  young  people 
after  a  long  working  day  will  have  to  be  met  by  an  extension  of 
the  part-time  or  continuation  school  principle. 

Part-time  Schools  for  Immigrants  between  Fourteen  and  Seventeen 

Years  of  Age. 
The  investigation   of  this   system  of  education,   which  was 
submitted   to   the   Legislature   a   year   ago,   showed   that   two 
shifts  of  boys  and  girls  could  alternate  at  school  and  factory 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  127 

with  no  immediate  loss  to  the  employers  and  with,  of  course, 
large  future  gains  for  all  concerned. 1 

The  part-time  school,  so  far  as  it  has  been  considered  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, is  intended  for  those  who  are  literate,  and  is  to  cor- 
relate the  theoretical  work  of  the  school  with  the  practical 
training  in  the  shop  or  factory,  so  as  to  make  for  greater  in- 
dustrial efficiency.  The  part-time  school  that  should  be  pro- 
vided for  the  immigrant  child  is  one  that  prepares  him  for  this 
other  vocational  part-time  school  by  teaching  him  English  and 
by  supplementing  the  inadequate  early  training  he  received  in 
the  old  country.  It  is  not  too  much  for  the  Commonwealth  to 
require  that  all  immigrants  under  seventeen  should  spend  at 
least  five  half  days  a  week  in  preparing  themselves  for  their  so- 
cial, industrial  and  political  life  in  America. 

It  is  true  that  at  present  illiterate  minors  who  are  between 
the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  are  required  to  attend  school  all 
day.  But  in  most  schools  they  are  placed  in  the  regular 
classes,  where  they  interfere  with  the  progress  of  the  younger 
children  and  cannot  be  given  the  attention  they  need.  With 
half-day  instruction  in  classes  specially  planned  to  meet  their 
needs,  and  conducted  for  forty  weeks  a  year,  conforming  to  the 
day  school  period,  it  is  believed  that  the  illiterate  immigrant 
children  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  would  be- 
come literate  more  rapidly  than  in  the  regular    full-time  schools. 

With  the  better  teaching  which  the  special  part-time  classes 
for  these  children  would  make  possible,  more  of  them  would 
want  to  continue  their  education  after  they  met  the  fourth 
grade  requirements  and  were  no  longer  compelled  to  come. 
The  opportunity  of  alternating  work  and  education  which  the 
part-time  school  offers,  makes  economically  possible  for  more 
of  them  a  longer  period  of  attendance  than  would  be  possible 
if  full-day  attendance  were  required. 

From  the  standpoint  both  of  the  State  and  of  the  immigrant 
these  half-day  schools  are  not  only  desirable  but  immediately 
practicable,  and  from  the  standpoint  of  the  manufacturer  they 
are  not  impracticable;  some  manufacturers  reported  that  they 
would  welcome  such  a  combination  of  school  and  work,  and  un- 
doubtedly many  more  would  approve  it  after  it  had  once  been 
given  a  fair  trial. 

1  The  Needs  and  Possibilities  of  Part-time  Education,  pp.  112-1  IS. 


128  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

So  far  as  the  additional  expense  is  concerned,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  to  provide  part-time  schooling  for  the  immi- 
grant who  is  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age 
when  he  arrives  will  cost  much  less  than  to  educate  the  child 
born  here  or  the  child  who  comes  here  when  he  is  much  younger 
than  fourteen.  Each  is  equally  important  in  the  future  of  the 
State. 

Evening  Schools  for  those  between  Seventeen  and  Twenty-one  Years 

of  Age. 

Those  who  are  between  seventeen  and  twenty-one  years  of 
age  should  as  at  present  be  required  to  attend  evening  school 
until  they  become  literate.  The  commission  gave  some  consid- 
eration to  the  question  as  to  whether  this  age  should  not  be 
raised  to  twenty-five  or  thirty  years.  It  was  also  suggested 
that  the  compulsion  should  take  the  form  of  requiring  that  all 
immigrants  under  thirty  years  of  age  must  attain  the  Massa- 
chusetts standard  of  literacy  within  a  reasonable  time  after 
their  arrival,  under  penalty  of  being  debarred  from  employ- 
ment. But  until  much  more  has  been  done  to  provide  the  kind 
of  instruction  that  is  needed  for  those  who  will  attend  volun- 
tarily, any  plan  of  this  sort  seemed  inadvisable.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  standard  of  literacy  will  gradually  be  raised  in 
the  future,  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  so  that  the  educational 
requirements  that  the  State  enforces  will  more  nearly  approach 
those  standards  generally  recognized  as  demanded  by  the  need 
of  the  child  and  of  the  State. 

Very  much  more  than  is  required  of  them  by  law  should  be 
offered  this  group  between  seventeen  and  twenty-one  years  of 
age.  If  the  schools  are  better  organized  so  as  to  offer  oppor- 
tunities that  are  commensurate  with  the  sacrifice  involved  in 
devoting  to  study  the  time  that  is  needed  for  recreation,  the 
number  in  voluntary  attendance  at  evening  classes  will  be 
greatly  increased. 

The  Groups  of  Older  Men  and  Women. 
The  standard  of  what  should  be  accomplished  with  the  older 
men,  especially  those  who  are  between  thirty  and  forty  years 
of    age  when    they    come    to    the    United    States,     must     be 


= 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  L2Q 

quite  different  from  the  standard  by  which  we  should  measure 
successful  teaching  of  those  between  sixteen  and  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  and  of  those  between  twenty-one  and  thirty.  As 
the  standard  is  different,  so  the  method  and  subject-matter 
must  be  different.  Fewer  evenings  a  week,  older  teachers,  the 
use  of  moving  pictures,  lectures  in  their  own  languages,  and 
every  conceivable  short  cut  to  an  understanding  of  the  life  of 
the  community  in  which  they  live  and  work  must  be  given 
these  older  people.  They  should,  moreover,  not  be  asked  to  go 
into  a  class  with  young  people,  in  comparison  with  whose 
superior  training  their  deficiencies  are  a  source  of  shame  and 
humiliation. 

The  mothers,  whose  days  and  nights  are  spent  in  family  serv- 
ice, are,  because  their  isolation  is  so  complete,  most  in  need 
of  assistance.  There  are  those  who  believe  that  the  educational 
machinery  can  never  be  adjusted  to  meet  the  needs  of  this 
group.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  great  changes  are  necessary. 
These  older  women  will,  of  course,  not  come  to  public  schools 
if  the  classes  meet  four  or  five  times  a  week,  or  at  hours  which 
interfere  with  their  home  duties  or  if  they  are  composed  princi- 
pally of  young  people.  They  will  not  come  if  they  are  taught  by  a 
teacher  who  knows  nothing  of  their  background  of  experience  and 
tradition,  and  who  does  not  appreciate  how  much  assistance  even 
educated  persons  need  if  they  are  going  to  adjust  successfully 
their  old-world  standards  of  home  making  to  the  needs  of  their 
children,  who  are  being  so  rapidly  Americanized  away  from  all 
parental  control.  The  experience  of  Boston  with  two  classes 
of  these  women  last  year,  and  of  Newton  with  three  such 
groups  this  year,  demonstrates  that  the  attendance  of  these 
women  can  be  secured  if  a  real  attempt  is  made.  The  im- 
portance of  reaching  this  group  has  been  already  explained  in 
the  discussion  of  the  education  of  the  immigrant  child. l 

Evening  Classes  in  Labor  Camps. 

The  foreign  laborer  who  works  with  the  pick  and  shovel 
usually  goes  from  one  camp  to  another  as  the  work  is  finished, 
and  never  remains  long  enough  in  any  one  place  to  make  his 
education  the  problem  of  that  community.     The  youth  of  many 

1  See  pp.  116,  117. 


130  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

of  these  men,  the  bad  housing  provided  in  the  labor  camps 
and  the  temptations  that  result  from  social  isolation,  make  it 
extremely  important  that  these  camps  should  not  be  overlooked 
in  the  educational  program.1 

The  few  experimental  camp  schools  that  have  been  privately 
conducted  in  Massachusetts  have  taught  the  men  English  and 
many  other  things  they  need  to  know,  and  have  greatly  im- 
proved the  general  moral  tone  of  the  camps. 

The  organization  and  methods  used  in  camp  schools  must 
be  so  different  from  those  employed  in  other  evening  schools 
that  it  is  believed  they  can  be  more  successfully  conducted  by 
the  State  than  by  the  local  community.  Moreover,  because 
these  camps  are  moved  frequently,  from  place  to  place,  the 
duty  of  providing  the  instruction  which  these  men  need  be- 
longs to  the  Commonwealth,  and  the  commission  therefore 
recommends  that  evening  camp  schools  should  be  maintained  by 
the  Board  of  Education  for  both  illiterate  minors  and  adults. 

Special  Training  Necessary  for  Teachers  of  Immigrants. 

In  discussing  the  better  organization  of  evening  school  work, 
the  teacher,  who  is  admittedly  the  most  important  factor  in  its 
success,  has  not  as  yet  been  considered. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  evening  school  follows  a  long 
day  of  hard  work;  that  a  large  number  of  those  who  come 
are  unable  to  read  and  write  in  their  own  language;  that  the 
class  is  often  made  up  of  representatives  of  many  different 
nationalities;  that  while  the  immediate  acquisition  of  a  work- 
ing knowledge  of  English  is  enormously  important,  the  ambi- 
tion to  acquire  much  more  than  this  must  be  stimulated;  and 
that  however  eager  the  immigrant  may  be  the  period  of  his  at- 
tendance must  of  necessity  be  relatively  short,  it  is  at  once  ap- 
parent that  a  high  degree  of  professional  skill,  as  well  as  of 
special  aptitude  for  this  kind  of  teaching,  is  necessary.  But  the 
very  general  belief  that  evening  classes  are  only  an  unimportant 
adjunct  to  the  school  system  has  meant  that  the  teachers 
generally  have  not  measured  up  to  this  standard. 

The  reports  from  62  out  of  67  cities  and  towns  which  con- 
ducted  night   schools   in    1912-1913   and   replied   to   the   com- 

1  See  pp.  69-73;  for  Bill,  see  p.  230,  sec.  11. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  131 

mission's  questions,  show  that  some  or  all  of  the  night-school 
teachers  were  •  employed  in  the  day  schools  also.  In  the  cities 
and  towns  where  classes  meet  four  nights  weekly  —  in  one  case 
five  nights  —  it  is  obvious  that  the  day-school  teacher  cannot 
furnish  the  necessary  vigor,  enthusiasm  and  special  prepara- 
tion; while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  demand  that  the  evening 
school  makes  on  her  strength  leaves  her  unable  to  do  the  best 
teaching  of  which  she  is  capable  the  next  day.  So  it  is  a  costly 
system  from  both  standpoints. 

The  salaries  of  the  night-school  teachers  range  from  75  cents 
in  one  town  of  over  10,000,  which  has  a  large  foreign  popula- 
tion, to  $2.50  an  evening.  In  25  out  of  the  66  cities  and  towns 
from  which  information  was  secured  on  this  point  the  salary 
was  between  $1.50  and  $2  an  evening.  What  this  money  is 
able  to  purchase  in  professional  skill  and  experience  would 
seem  to  be  an  ample  explanation  of  the  reason  why  the  teaching 
in  the  night  school  falls  far  short  of  what  is  necessary.  It 
should,  however,  be  noted  in  full  justice  to  some  self-sacrificing 
teachers  who  are  genuinely  interested  in  the  work  that  their 
salaries  are  an  inadequate  measure  of  their  usefulness.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  some  cases  the  low  salaries  are  unfair  only  to 
the  young  men  and  women  whom  the  State  compels  to  attend 
these  classes,  and,  more  important  still,  unfair  to  the  future  of 
the  State. 

Immigrants  of  all  nationalities  have  urged  that  the  employ- 
ment of  their  own  people  as  teachers  would  greatly  increase 
the  effectiveness  of  the  evening-school  work.  Whether  or  not 
this  is  necessary,  or  even  desirable,  for  the  actual  teaching  of 
the  class,  there  can  be  no  question  that  the  employment  of 
such  teachers  would  increase  the  attendance,  especially  of  the 
adult  immigrants.  Certainly,  if  teachers  speaking  the  foreign 
languages  are  not  employed,  interpreters  are  needed  to  meet 
and  enroll  those  pupils  who  are  unable  to  speak  any  English, 
and  to  help  the  regular  teachers  in  the  first  few  lessons,  at 
least. 

The  establishment  of  part-time  schools  for  those  between 
fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  would  help  in  the  solution 
of  the  problem  of  securing  teachers  for  the  evening  schools.  A 
part-time  class  in  the  morning  in  addition  to  an  evening  class, 


132  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

or  a  part-time  class  in  the  afternoon  in  addition  to  an  evening 
class,  would  furnish  regular  employment  on  a  full-time  basis 
to  many  of  these  teachers.  This  would  mean  that  teachers 
could  afford  to  specialize  in  this  particular  work.  Normal 
schools  would  then  be  willing  to  offer  courses  in  methods  of 
teaching  foreigners,  and  perhaps  we  shall  have  them  conducting 
what  has  so  long  been  needed,  —  a  model  evening  school  for 
immigrants.  The  attention  of  the  normal  schools  should  be  in- 
sistently called  to  the  need  of  educational  experiments  in  this 
neglected  field. 

A  Concrete  Example  of  the  Inadequacies  of  the  Present  Evening 

Schools. 

A  concrete  example  of  the  inadequacies  of  one  evening  school 
will  show  that  something  more  than  poorly  paid  teachers  is  at 
the  bottom  of  the  difficulties  in  the  present  system.  One  of  the 
large  cities,  which  has  as  complex  a  population  as  any  in  the 
State,  and  perhaps  the  most  isolated  and  difficult  non-family 
groups,  believes  that,  to  use  the  words  of  an  evening-school 
official,  it  has  "no  problem."  Yet,  in  1910,  7,259  of  its  foreign- 
born  white  population  of  ten  years  of  age  and  over  were  unable 
to  speak  English,  —  more  than  twice  the  number  unable  to 
speak  English  in  1900.  Some  of  its  factories  employing  the 
largest  number  of  recent  immigrants  run  a  day  and  night  shift, 
and  no  adjustment  of  classes  is  made  to  meet  this  need. 

In  this  city  one  of  those  responsible  for  the  night  schools 
appeared  before  the  commission  and  explained  that  the  evening 
classes  of  his  city  were  bringing  about  a  knowledge  of  English 
"about  as  rapidly  as  is  desirable."  When  asked  how  many  who 
were  not  compelled  to  attend  by  law  were  in  his  evening 
classes,  he  replied  that  the  question  had  never  excited  his 
curiosity  or  interest,  and  was  frank  enough  to  admit,  when 
asked  what  methods  were  taken  to  stimulate  the  attendance  of 
the  very  large  group  outside  the  law,  that  the  schools  were 
"not  looking  for  trouble." 

In  this  city  the  teachers  are  paid  from  SI. 50  to  $2  an  evening, 
and  many  of  them  teach  in  the  day  schools.  The  schools  are 
open  twenty-three  weeks,  for  five  evenings  a  week.  Pupils  are 
often  found  asleep  in  the  classroom,  and  the  teachers  are  in- 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  133 

structed  never  to  awaken  them  because  "nature  demands  her 
compensation. " 

No  preparation  for  naturalization  is  provided  in  the  course 
of  study,  except  that  on  the  first  evening  of  their  attendance 
at  night  school  the  foreigners  unable  to  speak  English  are  taught 
to  sing  "America." 

This  educator,  who,  in  spite  of  all  these  conditions,  has 
"never  encountered  difficulties  or  troubles,"  was  unable  to  see 
any  way  in  which  the  classes  were  falling  short  of  the  ideal. 
With  this  as  the  vision  of  a  leader,  the  work  of  the  $1.50  teacher 
may  be  imagined.  The  commission's  investigator  was  told  by 
representatives  of  the  various  nationalities  in  this  city  that 
many  immigrants  found  themselves  too  weary  to  attend;  some 
had  never  heard  of  the  night  schools;  and  others  had  attended, 
but  were  much  discouraged  over  the  lack  of  progress  they  were 
making.  This  would  seem,  from  the  educator's  own  statement, 
to  be  a  school  in  which  only  the  most  ambitious,  the  hopelessly 
stupid  or  those  whom  the  State  compels  to  attend  would  ever 
be  found.  . 

Evening  School  needed  throughout  the   Year. 

The  suggestion  that  evening  schools  should  continue  during 
the  summer  months  has  come  to  the  commission  from  manv 
sources.  This  the  commission  believes  to  be  extremely  im- 
portant. Of  the  63  cities  and  towns  which  conducted  evening 
schools  during  the  school  year  1912-1913,  classes  were  held  less 
than  fifty  evenings  in  28  cities,  less  than  sixty  evenings  in  15, 
and  sixty  evenings  or  more  in  20  cities  or  towns.  As  a  rule, 
the  session  begins  in  October  and  closes  in  March. 

When  the  immigrant  comes  to  the  United  States  he  expects, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  to  learn  the  English  language.  After 
he  has  been  here  for  a  time  his  attitude  often  changes.  He 
finds  his  work  hard,  and  the  hours  give  him  little  leisure. 
Many  of  those  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact  at  work  and  in 
the  neighborhood  where  he  lives  have  been  here  many  years  and 
know  only  a  few  English  words.  They  tell  him  how  difficult  the 
English  language  is  to  acquire,  and  he  concludes  that  he  will 
never  be  able  to  learn  it,  and  becomes  used  to  getting  along 
without  it.  It  is,  therefore,  especially  important  that  the 
immigrants  should  be  enroled  in  evening  school  soon  after  their 


134  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

arrival.  The  largest  number  come  in  the  spring,  just  as  the 
night  schools  are  closing  for  six  months.  For  the  community 
to  fail  to  take  advantage  of  this  first  summer,  when  the  immi- 
grant's eagerness  is  greatest,  is  a  mistake. 

The  following  letter,  which  the  commission  received  in 
August,  illustrates  the  great  sacrifice  that  some  immigrants  are 
prepared  to  make  in  order  to  learn  English :  — 

I'm  in  this  country  four  months  (from  14  Mai  1913  —  Noniton  —  Ant- 
verpen) . 

I  am  polish  man.  I  want  be  american  citizen  —  and  took  here  first 
paper  in  12  June  N  625.  But  my  friends  are  polish  people  —  I  must 
five  with  them  —  I  work  in  the  shoes-shop  with  polish  people  —  I  stay 
all  the  time  with  them  —  at  home  —  in  the  shop  —  anywhere. 

I  want  five  with  american  people,  but  I  do  not  know  anybody  of 
american.  I  go  4  times  to  teacher  and  must  pay  $2  weekly.  I  wanted 
take  board  in  english  house,  but  I  could  not,  for  I  earn  only  $5  or  6  in  a 
week,  and  when  I  pajr  teacher  $2, 1  have  only  $4  —  $3  —  and  now  english 
board  house  is  too  dear  for  me.  Better  job  to  get  is  very  hard  for  me, 
because  I  do  not  speak  well  english  and  I  cannot  understand  what  they 
say  to  me.  The  teacher  teach  me  —  but  when  I  come  home  —  I  must 
speak  polish  and  in  the  shop  also.  In  this  way  I  can  five  in  your  country 
many  years  —  like  my  friends  —  and  never  speak  —  write  well  english  — 
and  never  be  good  american  citizen.  I  know  here  man}''  persons,  they 
live  here  10  or  moore  years,  and  they  are  not  citizens,  they  don't  speak 
well  english,  the3r  don't  know  geography  and  history  of  this  contry,  they 
don't  know  constitution  of  America.  —  nothing.  I  don't  like  be  like  them 
I  wanted  they  help  me  in  english  —  thejr  could  not  —  because  they  knew 
nothing.  I  want  go  from  them  away.  But  where?  Not  in  the  country, 
because  I  want  go  in  the  city,  free  evening  schools  and  lern.  I'm  looking 
for  help.  If  somebodj'  could  give  me  another  job  between  american  people, 
help  me  live  with  them  and  lern  english  —  and  could  tell  me  the  best  way 
how  I  can  fast  lern  —  it  would  be  very,  very  good  for  me.  Perhaps  you 
have  somebody,  here  he  could  help  me? 

If  you  can  help  me,  I  please  jrou. 

I  wrote  this  letter  by  myself  and  I  know  no  good  —  but  I  hope  you  will 
understand  whate  I  mean. 

Excuse  me, 
F.  N. 

Irregularity  in  attendance,  one  of  the  serious  disadvantages 
with  which  the  evening  school  must  contend,  usually  results 
first  in  discouragement  and  finally  in  abandonment  of  the  idea 
of  ever  learning  English. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  135 

Overtime  work  during  the  beginning  of  the  rush  season,  is 
usually  the  most  important  cause  of  such  irregularity.  If  the 
seasonal  demands  were  carefully  studied,  it  would  be  possible  to 
adjust  the  terms  so  that  new  classes  would  be  advertised  as 
beginning  immediately  after  the  rush  season  was  over  and 
many  of  those  who  had  been  compelled  to  leave  could  then  re- 
turn to  the  night  school  without  embarrassment. 

If  evening  schools  were  open,  as  they  should  be,  throughout 
the  year,  those  older  men  and  women  whose  attendance  is  vol- 
untary, might  not  attend  all  the  time,  but  their  net  attendance 
and  the  general  educational  results  would  be  very  much  greater. 

Lectures  and  Books  in  the  Language  of  the  Immigrant. 

All  immigrants  —  except  those  young  enough  to  be  in  the 
day  schools  —  should  be  taught  by  lectures  and  by  books 
and  leaflets  in  their  own  languages,  the  things  that  they 
need  to  know  immediately  on  their  arrival.  The  North  Ameri- 
can Civic  League  for  Immigrants  has  succeeded  in  convincing 
some  school  committees  of  the  practical  value  of  offering  lec- 
tures on  patriotic  subjects  in  the  language  of  the  immigrant. 
Much  more  than  this  is  necessary.  Immigrants  should  be  told 
something  of  the  factory  laws  designed  for  their  protection; 
something  of  the  industrial  history  of  the  State,  of  the  prevail- 
ing rates  of  wages  in  the  different  trades,  and  of  the  regulation 
of  hours  of  work  for  women  and  children;  something  of  the 
foreign  exchange  and  postal  savings  departments  of  the  post 
office;  something  of  health  and  sanitary  regulations.  Briefly, 
instead  of  being  left  to  learn  by  bitter  experience,  they  should 
be  instructed  in  all  those  things  the  ignorance  of  which  means 
not  only  unnecessary  injury  and  loss  to  the  immigrants,  but, 
through  a  lowering  of  standards,  to  all  those  with  whom  they 
live  and  work. 

Night  Schools  in  Towns  Under  10,000  should  be  required  by  Law. 

The  State  authorizes,  but  does  not  require,  the  maintenance 

of  evening  classes  in  towns  whose  population  is  less  than  10,000. 

In  a  State  like  Massachusetts,  where  the  small  towns  are  honey- 

:  Report  on  Evening  Schools  of  New  York  City,  1913,  pp.  70,  71. 


136  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

combed  with  factories  an  increasingly  large  per  cent  of  whose 
employees  are  recent  immigrants,  this  distinction  should  never 
have  been  made.  The  illiteracy  statistics  show  the  result.  Ac- 
cording to  the  census  of  1910  there  were  more  persons  unable 
to  read  and  write  in  any  language  in  towns  having  a  popula- 
tion of  less  than  10,000  than  in  those  whose  population  is  from 
10,000  to  25,000. 

The  need  for  evening  schools  is  shown  by  the  number  of 
working-certificates  issued  for  illiterates  in  these  smaller  in- 
dustrial towns.  According  to  reports  received  by  the  secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Labor  and  Industries,  100  of  these  certificates 
were  issued  in  Great  Barrington,  150  in  Hard  wick,  366  in  Lud- 
low, 78  in  Maynard,  66  in  Palmer  and  165  in  Ware.  These 
figures  were  reported  within  three  months  after  the  law  re- 
quiring such  certificates  went  into  effect,  so  that  they  un- 
doubtedly very  greatly  understate  the  number  of  illiterate 
minors.  In  these  and  many  other  towns  where  the  need  is 
equally  great,  no  evening  school  was  maintained  last  year. 
Out  of  299  towns  having  a  population  under  10,000,  19  recog- 
nized their  problem  and  conducted  evening  schools  last  year. 
In  a  few  other  cities  classes  were  conducted  by  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  by  a  woman's  club  or  a  church; 
in  two  or  three  cases  the  local  manufacturing  corporations  have 
opened  evening  schools.  Occasionally  the  immigrants  them- 
selves form  a  class  and  employ  a  teacher. 

In  one  of  the  towns  having  a  population  of  less  than  10,000, 
which  the  commission  investigated,  the  only  effort  to  give  an 
opportunity  for  learning  English,  or  to  give  any  lectures  on 
American  conditions  and  institutions,  has  come  from  a  foreign- 
speaking  branch  of  the  Socialist  Party.  But  even  in  the  few 
towns  in  which  such  private  classes  exist,  these  are  in  no  sense 
a  substitute  for  the  public  schools;  for  private  schools  cannot 
require  the  attendance  of  illiterate  minors,  and  their  resources 
enable  them  to  handle  only  a  small  number  for  a  very  few 
weeks  during  the  year. 

Peculiar  Isolation  of  the  Immigrant  in  the  Smaller  Towns. 

In  some  of  these  smaller  communities  the  night  school  is  es- 
pecially needed  because  of  the  complete  isolation  of  the  foreign- 
born.     A   statement  of  the   situation  in   one  of  these  towns, 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  137 

which  is  typical  of  many  others,  illustrates  this  fact.  In  one 
of  the  old  towns  of  Massachusetts,  which  has  many  genera- 
tions of  American  associations,  the  homes  of  a  summer  colony 
are  atone  end;  in  the  village  proper  live  the  old  American  resi- 
dents but  not  the  mill  owners;  and  completely  separated  from 
the  summer  and  the  village  people,  by  railroad  tracks,  a  marsh 
and  the  mill,  are  the  houses  where  the  immigrants  live.  But 
the  physical  separation  only  typifies  the  much  more  serious 
way  in  which  each  of  the  two  groups  —  the  immigrant  and  the 
American  —  fail  to  touch  in  experience  or  understanding  the 
thought  and  life  of  the  other.  These  newcomers  are  going  into 
an  occupation  which  the  American,  English,  Irish  and  French 
have  been  unwilling  that  their  children  should  follow.  Each 
generation  has  bent  its  energies  to  educate  the  children  so  that 
they  would  not  have  to  follow  the  same  occupation.  The  result 
is  industrial,  as  well  as  social,  isolation,  seriously  intensified  by 
the  language  barrier  and  by  the  ignorance  on  each  side  of  the 
other's  history  and  social  traditions. 

It  might  therefore  have  been  expected,  wrhen  the  foreign- 
born  operatives  struck  in  the  spring  of  1913,  that  there  would 
be  misinterpretation  on  both  sides.  It  was  not  difficult  to 
persuade  these  immigrants  that  the  Americans  cared  nothing 
about  whether  the  grievances  of  which  they  complained  were 
real  or  imaginary,  and  that  the  town  officers  were  ready  to  deny 
them  the  privileges  and  protection  of  which  the  American  is 
assured.  And  it  was  equally  easy  for  the  Americans  to  be  con- 
vinced that  the  Greeks  and  Poles  were  atheists  and  anarchists, 
because,  although  they  had  been  their  neighbors  for  many 
years,  the  Americans  had  never  had  even  the  superficial  contact 
with  these  foreigners  which  would  have  convinced  them  at 
once  of  the  reality  and  vividness  of  the  Greek  and  Polish  re- 
ligion and  patriotism. 

In  their  statement  to  the  Board  of  Arbitration  the  strikers 
complained  that  no  night  school  was  provided,  and  charged, 
perhaps  quite  unjustly,  that  the  representatives  of  the  mill  had 
persuaded  the  town  not  to  appropriate  the  money  for  its  con- 
tinuance. Investigation  revealed  a  very  interesting  history 
of  the  night-school  question.  Classes  were  opened  a  few  years 
ago  as  a  result  of  the  efforts  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation, and  were  privately  supported,  the  mill  being  a  con- 


138  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

tributor. x  The  next  year  the  classes  were  taken  over  by  the 
school  committee,  but  were  given  up  in  1911  after  the  passage 
of  the  State  law,  extending  from  eighteen  to  twenty-one  the 
age  of  compulsory  attendance  for  illiterates  in  towns  where  an 
evening  school  is  maintained.  The  plea  was  that  too  many 
would  attend  and  the  expense  would  be  too  great.  The  super- 
intendent, when  asked  about  the  possibility  of  reopening  the 
evening  school,  said  he  was  afraid  he  did  not  have  "the  real 
Christian  spirit  about  the  foreigners  in  town,  for  he  was  not  the 
least  bit  interested."  In  reply  to  the  suggestion  that  it  was  not 
so  much  a  matter  of  Christian  as  of  civic  spirit,  he  answered 
that  whatever  it  was,  he  lacked  it.  While  the  evening-school 
proposition  was  being  discussed  and  voted  on  at  the  town 
meeting  the  superintendent  proved  his  lack  of  interest  by  not 
attending  the  meeting. 

A  school  that  taught  not  only  English  to  the  foreign-born 
of  this  community,  but  preparation  for  citizenship  in  its  larger 
aspects,  and  also  served  as  a  meeting-place  for  both  American 
and  immigrant,  might  not  have  prevented  the  strike,  but  it 
would  have  prevented  the  bitter  misunderstandings,  distrust 
and  disorder,  the  effects  of  which  will  be  felt  in  this  community 
for  some  time  to  come.  But  there  is  no  prospect  that  such  a 
school  will  be  provided,  for  the  indifference  of  the  superintend- 
ent is  matched  by  the  statement  of  the  chairman  of  the 
school  committee  that,  having  decided  to  open  an  evening 
school,  "the  thing  that  is  troubling  the  town  now  is  that  under 
the  new  law  so  many  minors  will  be  forced  to  attend  the  even- 
ing classes  that  the  town  cannot  afford  or  find  a  place  large 
enough  to  accommodate  them." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  cost  of  adequately  providing 
for  the  educational  needs  of  the  illiterate  immigrants  over 
sixteen  years  of  age  is  more  than  many  of  these  smaller  com- 
munities can  meet.  This  town  is  not  unique  in  its  problems, 
in  its  failure  to  appreciate  fully  what  might  be  done  or  in  its 
inability  to  make  even  an  effective  beginning  on  its  own  ini- 
tiative. 

1  It  should  be  noted  that  this  does  not  constitute  a  disproof  of  the  strikers'  charge.  Tne  com- 
mission has  met  evidence  in  other  towns  that  the  mill  authorities  opposed  a  public  night  school, 
but  were  willing  to  contribute  to  a  private  school  because  they  are  not  compelled,  under  the  penalty 
of  the  law,  to  discharge  their  illiterate  minor  employees  who  do  not  attend  a  private  school. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  139 

The  State's  Part  in  this  Larger  Educational  Program. 

Enough  has  already  been  said  to  indicate  that  for  the  proper 
provision  for  immigrant  education  experts  must  work  out,  by 
study  and  by  experiments  conducted  throughout  the  State,  the 
school  problems  of  classification,  methods  of  instruction  and  of 
securing  and  training  proper  teachers.  The  employment  of  such 
experts  by  individual  cities  or  towns  is  as  unnecessary  as  it  is 
impossible.  For  the  individual  city  or  town  to  maintain  a 
corps  of  lecturers  speaking  the  various  languages  as  well  as 
English  is  also  manifestly  impossible.  Suitable  books,  pam- 
phlets and  lesson  leaflets  can  be  prepared  without  prohibitive 
cost  only  for  very  large  numbers.  For  economical  administra- 
tion State  action  is  therefore  necessary.  The  Commonwealth, 
through  the  State  Board  of  Education,  must  undertake  to  as- 
sist and  direct  the  local  communities  if  provision  is  to  be  made 
for  the  proper  education  of  the  immigrant. 

The  State  should  share  the  Expense  of  Evening  and  Part-time 

Schools  for  Immigrants. 

Massachusetts  ranks  fifteenth  among  the  States  of  the  Union 
in  its  per  capita  expenditure  for  school  purposes. *  Local  taxa- 
tion has  furnished  a  very  much  larger  part  of  the  money  so  ex- 
pended than  in  most  other  States.  According  to  the  latest 
report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  this 
Commonwealth  contributed  by  State  tax  or  appropriation  only 
$214,133  for  school  purposes.  During  the  same  year  Pennsyl- 
vania, at  the  other  extreme,  contributed  $7,340,581,  and  30 
other  States  raised  more  for  public  school  purposes  by  State 
tax  or  appropriation  than  did  Massachusetts.2  No  one  who  is 
familiar  with  the  educational  needs  of  most  of  the  cities  and 
towns  of  the  State  would  undertake  to  defend  the  position  that 
this  difference  in  policy  is  due  to  the  fact  that  local  com- 
munities in  Massachusetts  are  better  able  to  support  their 
schools  properly  than  are  local  communities  in  other  States. 

Following  the  precedents  established  in  aiding  industrial  and 
vocational  classes,  the  State  should  also  assist  the  cities  and 

1  Report  of  (he  V.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  1912,  Vol.  II,  Table  16,  p.  13. 
»  Idem,  Table  12,  p.  14. 


140  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

towns  to  provide  the  special  classes  which  the  presence  of  the 
immigrant  necessitates.  Among  the  reasons  that  may  be  urged 
for  State  subsidies  for  this  work  are  the  following :  — 

1.  The  State  is  peculiarly  interested  in  the  Education  of  the 
Immigrant.  —  While  the  State  is  an  interested  party  in  any 
educational  program,  it  is  peculiarly  so  in  the  case  of  immi- 
grants who  are  soon  to  become  citizens,  and  for  whom  a  special 
sort  of  training,  quite  in  addition  to  the  regular  education  of 
children,  must  be  provided. 

2.  The  Immigrant  Population  is  a  Changing  One.  —  Among  all 
non-English  speaking  immigrants  there  are  large  numbers  of 
single  men  and  women.  Most  of  them  are  without  ties  and 
move  about  from  place  to  place  as  the  labor  market  changes,  — 
more  freely  each  year,  as  the  wider  distribution  of  their  own 
people  makes  it  easier  for  them  to  establish  themselves  in  new 
places. 

The  case  of  a  Polish  man  who  has  been  in  this  country 
fourteen  years  is  typical.  He  lived  for  two  years  in  Chicopee 
Falls,  then  moved  to  Thompsonville,  Conn.,  then  to  a  small 
town  in  Rhode  Island,  and  then  back  to  Thompsonville,  and  is 
now  living  in  Springfield.  Even  the  immigrant  who  brings  his 
family  moves  much  more  frequently  than  the  native  American. 
As  a  result,  the  place  in  which  the  immigrant  begins  his  life  in 
Massachusetts  may  not  be  the  one  in  which  his  real  contribu- 
tion is  to  be  made.  It  is  therefore  unfair  to  make  his  first 
place  of  residence  bear  the  entire  expense  of  his  education. 

3.  State  Taxation  results  in  a  More  Just  Distribution  o)  the 
Burden.  —  The  commission  considered  the  difficulties  involved 
in  any  suggestion  for  increased  expenditure.  Unquestionably, 
municipal,  county  and  State  expenditures  —  most  of  them 
necessary,  many  of  them  inevitable,  some  of  them  inadequate  — 
have  reached  a  point  where  there  must  be  a  halt  in  progress  or 
else  a  reorganization  of  our  archaic  system  of  taxation. 

Some  thought  was  given  to  possible  means  by  which  the  em- 
ployers of  immigrant  labor  might  be  called  upon  to  make  a 
special  contribution,  to  be  applied  directly  toward  the  com- 
munity cost  that  the  burden  of  its  education  imposes;  for  ex- 
ample, the  payment  by  employers  of  a  certain  sum  —  say  50 
cents  per  week  for  each  illiterate  employed  —  might  provide  a 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  141 

fund  to  be  expended  by  the  State  in  the  extension  of  night, 
part-time  and  continuation  school  work  among  the  illiterates. 
On  the  schedule  sent  out  to  manufacturers  the  question  was 
asked  whether  or  not  they  would  favor  the  requirement  that 
such  a  fee  be  paid.  It  was  not  expected  that  many  would 
recognize  any  special  financial  obligation  for  the  education  of 
the  immigrant,  but  133,  or  11.6  per  cent  of  those  who  answered 
this  question,  replied  that  they  favored  such  a  law.  The  ad- 
ministrative —  to  say  nothing  of  the  constitutional  —  difficulties 
involved  in  the  carrying  out  of  any  such  scheme  made  the 
various  devices  that  were  considered  for  accomplishing  it  seem 
impracticable.  A  State  tax  is  therefore  recognized  as  more  just 
from  this  point  of  view  than  a  local  one,  since  the  real  estate 
and  the  personal  property  of  the  owners  of  an  industry  are 
often  not  found  in  the  town  in  which  it  is  located. 

4.  Local  Communities  are  unable  to  bear  the  Whole  Expense.  — 
Immigrants  usually  come  to  a  city  or  town  where  there  is  a  de- 
mand for  unskilled  labor,  because  even  those  immigrants  who 
have  a  skilled  trade  must  usually  serve  an  apprenticeship  in  the 
ranks  of  the  unskilled.  This  means  that  they  are  settling  in  in- 
dustrial cities  and  towns  where  the  educational  burden  is  al- 
ready heavy.  The  amount  of  taxable  property  is  relatively 
small  in  most  of  these  industrial  centers,  and  therefore  with  the 
same  sacrifice  that  is  made  in  richer  communities  they  find 
themselves  unable  to  provide  adequately  both  for  their  chil- 
dren —  American  and  foreign-born  —  and  for  the  adult  immi- 
grant. For  example,  for  the  school  year  1912-1913  the  amount 
appropriated  for  the  support  of  the  public  schools  for  each 
$1,000  of  valuation  of  property  was  $8.49  in  Palmer,  $7.50  in 
Ware,  $7.19  in  Chicopee,  $8.13  in  Adams,  $6.26  in  Barre,  $7.01 
in  Maynard  and  $5.11  in  Fall  River,  while  in  Springfield,  Boston 
and  Brookline  the  appropriations  were  $4.52,  $3.45  and  $2.30, 
respectively,  for  each  $1,000  in  valuation.  The  State  cannot 
in  justice  ask  the  former  group  of  cities  and  towns  to  make  the 
additional  sacrifice  that  adequate  provision  for  the  immigrant 
population  without  State  aid  would  require.  As  the  future 
welfare  of  the  State  is  identified  with  the  welfare  of  what  is 
so  large  a  part  of  its  population,  the  State  must  undertake 
to  do  what  the  local  community  finds  impossible. 


142  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

5.  The  Basis  and  Extent  of  the  State's  Participation  in  the  Ex- 
pense of  Immigrant  Education.  —  In  the  interest  of  efficiency  in 
the  conduct  of  part-time  and  evening  schools  for  the  education 
of  immigrants,  it  is  important  that  the  local  communities  and, 
the  State  share  in  the  responsibility  and  the  expense.  The  pro- 
fessional aspects  of  this  comparatively  new  problem  demand  the 
best  thought  of  all  concerned;  the  financial  burden  imposed 
should  be  distributed  as  equitably  as  possible. 

While  there  are  many  bases  on  which  the  expense  of  the  edu- 
cation of  immigrants  might  be  apportioned  between  the  local 
community  and  the  State,  it  would  seem  advisable  to  make  the 
State's  share  in  this  expense  dependent  in  a  measure  upon  the 
local  tax  rate  for  the  maintenance  of  the  regular  public  schools. 
Carrying  out  this  idea,  it  is  proposed  that  the  State  reimburse 
cities  and  towns  for  a  portion  of  their  expenditures  for  the 
salaries  of  teachers,  principals  and  supervisory  and  administra- 
tive officers  employed  in  part-time  and  evening  schools,  when 
these  are  conducted  under  the  general  supervision  and  with  the 
approval  of  the  State  Board  of  Education.  The  proportion  of 
such  expenditures  to  be  reimbursed  by  the  State  might  range 
from  four-tenths  to  seven-tenths,  on  the  following  basis :  — 

Where  the  tax  rate  for  the  maintenance  of  public  schools 

is: —  Reimbursement 

Less  than  $4  per  $1,000  of  valuation, Four-tenths 

$4  to  $4.49  per  $1,000  of  valuation, Five-tenths 

$4.50  to  $4.99  per  $1,000  of  valuation,         ....    Six-tenths 
$5  and  above  per  $1,000  of  valuation, Seven-tenths 

The  Cost  of  carrying  out  this  Larger  Educational  Program. 
No  data  are  available  from  which  the  number  of  illiterates 
from  fourteen  to  seventeen,  and  from  seventeen  to  twenty-one, 
can  be  determined  at  all  accurately.  Hence  it  is  impossible  to 
make  anything  better  than  roughly  approximate  estimates  of 
the  cost  of  carrying  out  the  plans  proposed  by  the  commission 
for  part-time  and  evening  schools.  Assuming  a  certain  number 
of  such  illiterates,  it  is  possible  to  estimate  with  much  con- 
fidence the  cost  of  providing  adequate  instruction.  In  the  fol- 
lowing attempt  to  estimate  numbers  and  costs,  it  is  believed 
that  the  assumed  numbers  of  illiterates  are  well  within  actual 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  143 

numbers.  Should  the  actual  numbers  prove  to  be  larger  or 
smaller,  the  costs  would  vary  in  proportion. 

In  1910  the  number  of  white  persons  unable  to  speak 
English  between  fifteen  and  twenty-one  years  of  age  in  Mas- 
sachusetts was  26,576. 1  Since  that  time,  approximately  43,527 
immigrants  from  non-English  speaking  countries  between  four- 
teen and  twenty-one  years  of  age  have  come  to  the  State. 
Adding  these  two  numbers  we  should  have  70,103  who,  ac- 
cording to  the  Massachusetts  definition  of  illiteracy,  are  il- 
literate minors. 

It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  each  year  since  1910,  when 
the  federal  census  figures  were  made  up,  a  certain  portion  of  the 
illiterates  then  enumerated  have  passed  the  age  of  twenty-one, 
so  that  they  would  not  now  come  under  the  proposed  law  of 
compulsory  evening-school  attendance;  all  of  those  who  were 
over  seventeen  in  1910  have  now  passed  that  age,  so  that  of 
that  number  none  would  come  within  the  group  for  which 
part-time  schools  are  proposed.  It  is  also  probable  that  a 
small  percentage  who  are  still  under  twenty-one  have  now  be- 
come literate,  so  that  they  would  not  come  under  the  proposed 
law  for  compulsory  attendance. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  State  standard  of  literacy  (completion 
of  the  fourth-school  grade)  is  more  than  a  mere  ability  to  speak 
English,  so  the  figures  of  the  1910  census  make  the  number  of 
illiterates  from  fifteen  to  twenty  far  too  small. 

Also,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  estimated  number  of 
arrivals  since  1910  should  be  reduced  somewhat,  on  account  of 
the  passing  beyond  the  age  of  twenty-one  of  a  portion  of  the 
arrivals  of  1911  and  1912.  On  the  other  hand,  a  certain  number 
of  illiterates  arriving  under  fourteen,  say  from  twelve  to  four- 
teen, will  become  fourteen,  and  so  become  subject  to  the  part- 
time  schooling  provisions  before  they  achieve  literacy. 

After  weighing  all  these  considerations  we  may  assume, 
somewhat  arbitrarily,  that  there  are  in  the  State  at  present 
46,000  illiterates  between  fourteen  and  twenty-one  years  of  age. 

If  there  were  an  equal  number  for  each  year  of  age  there 
would  be,  between  fourteen  and  seventeen,  —  three  years,  — 
three-sevenths    of   the    entire    number,    or    19,714.       But    the 

1  U.  S.  Thirteenth  Census  (1910),  Vol.  I,  Population,  p.  1280,  Table  21. 


144  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

numbers  in  these  lower  years  are  undoubtedly  much  smaller 
than  in  the  higher  years,  for  reasons  of  constantly  increasing 
age,  as  cited  above,  and  from  the  fact  that  not  as  many  immi- 
grants come  at  fourteen,  fifteen  and  sixteen  as  at  seventeen, 
eighteen  and  nineteen  years  of  age.  Hence  we  may  assume 
again,  rather  arbitrarily,  that  the  number  of  illiterates  from 
fourteen  to  seventeen  now  in  the  State  is  about  6,000;  this 
leaves  40,000  illiterates  from  seventeen  to  twenty-one. 

We  shall  take  these  figures  as  a  basis  in  estimating  the  cost  of 
maintaining  the  schools  required  by  the  proposed  legislation.1 
Let  us  assume  that,  on  the  average,  one-half  of  the  children 
from  fourteen  to  seventeen  would  not  be  employed,  and  so 
would  be  required  to  attend  two  sessions  of  the  part-time 
school  each  day.  This  condition  would  make  it  necessary  to 
provide  a  single  session  of  school  each  day  for  the  equivalent 
of  9,000  children. 

The  number  of  pupils  per  teacher  in  these  part-time  schools 
should  not  average  over  18;  in  the  beginners  classes,  12  to  15 
would  be  as  many  as  could  be  taught  well,  but  the  higher  classes 
might  run  to  20  or  25.  On  this  basis  of  18  pupils  per  teacher, 
it  would  require  500  teachers,  each  teaching  one  session  per 
day,  to  care  for  the  part-time  children. 

In  addition  to  the  part-time  day  work,  each  of  these  500 
teachers  should  teach  a  class  in  evening  school,  meeting  at 
least  three  times  a  week,  as  provided  in  the  proposed  law. 
Hence,  we  have  here  500  teachers  available  for  evening  school 
work. 

How  many  evening  school  teachers  would  be  required  for  the 
instruction  of  40,000  illiterates?  The  evening  school  classes 
should  not  average  more  than  15  pupils;  on  this  basis  there 
would  be  necessary,  in  round  numbers,  2,700  teachers.  Hence, 
there  would  be  needed  2,200  teachers  in  addition  to  the  500 
part-time  day  school  teachers. 

Besides  the  classroom  teachers,  supervising  principals  would 
be  necessary,  and  in  the  larger  cities,  supervisors  or  assistant 
superintendents  in  charge  of  this  type  of  work.  We  may  esti- 
mate one  supervising  principal  for  every  15  teachers.  This 
would  give  150  principals  for  the  2,200  evening  school  teachers 

1  See  proposed  act,  p.  217. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


145 


and  33  principals  for  the  500  part-time  day  and  evening  school 
teachers. 

In  each  of  the  larger  cities  —  perhaps  10  in  all  —  there 
should  be  a  supervisor  or  assistant  superintendent  in  charge  of 
part-time  and  evening  schools. 


Summary  of  Requirements. 

Part-time  and  evening  school  teachers, 500 

Part-time  and  evening  school  principals, 33 

Evening  school  teachers, 2,200 

Evening  school  principals, 150 

Supervisors  or  assistant  superintendents, 10 

Salaries. 

500  part-time  and  evening  school  teachers  at  $900,  .  .  .  $450,000 
33  part-time  and  evening  school  principals  at  $1,500,  .  .  49,500 
2,200  evening  school  teachers  at  $2  per  evening  (one  hundred 

and  twenty  evenings  in  the  forty-week  school  }rear),  or  $240 

per  year, 528,000 

150  evening  school  principals  at  $4  per  evening,  or  $480  per 

year, 72,000 

10  supervisors   or    assistant  superintendents   at   $2,000   per 

year, 20,000 


Total, 


$1,119,500 


The  above  provides  only  for  the  compulsory  schools  that 
the  proposed  law  contemplates.  A  low  estimate  of  voluntary 
evening  school  attendants  —  literate  minors  and  both  literate 
and  illiterate  adults  —  would  be  one-half  the  number  of  com- 
pulsory evening  school  attendants,  or  20,000.  As  they  could 
be  taught  in  somewhat  larger  classes,  the  cost  of  their  instruc- 
tion may  be  estimated  at  $250,000.  This  gives  a  total  esti- 
mate of  $1,369,500  for  teaching  under  the  provisions  of  the 
proposed  legislation. 

On  the  basis  of  the  proposed  scale  of  State  reimbursement,1 
ranging  from  four-tenths  to  seven-tenths  of  the  expenditure  for 
teachers'  salaries,  assume  that  the  average  rate  of  reimburse- 
ment is  five  and  one-half  tenths,  or  55  per  cent.  On  this 
basis  the  cost  of  instruction  to  the  State  would  be  $753,22"). 

Adequate  provision  on  the  part  of  the  State  for  administer- 


•  Sec  p.  142. 


146  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

ing,  inspecting  and  supervising  this  type  of  education,  through 
a  deputy  commissioner,  agents  and  clerks,  together  with  some 
provision  for  training  teachers  through  institutes  and  normal 
schools,  would  require  an  expenditure  of  probably  $30,000; 
the  maintenance  of  schools  in  construction  camps  might  cost 
85,000  more,  making  a  total  estimated  cost  to  the  State  for 
maintaining  the  education  proposed  of  $788,225. 

What  will  be  the  net  cost  —  after  State  reimbursement  —  to 
the  cities  and  towns?  It  is  a  fair  estimate  that  the  expendi- 
ture for  teachers'  salaries  will  be  80  per  cent  of  the  total  ex- 
penditure. On  this  basis  the  expenses  other  than  salaries  — 
expenses  which  the  cities  and  towns  will  have  to  bear  without 
State  aid  —  will  amount  to  $342,375;  the  net  amount  of 
salaries  —  after  State  reimbursement  —  to  be  borne  locally 
will  be  $616,275,  making  a  total  cost  of  $958,650. 

During  the  school  year  1912-1913  the  cities  and  towns  of 
the  State  spent  a  total  of  $389,789.15  on  the  evening  classes 
which  were  maintained.  For  most  of  the  cities  and  towns 
which  are  now  conducting  evening  classes  this  plan  will  involve 
a  comparatively  small  increase  in  the  net  local  expenditure  for 
evening  schools.  The  illiterate  minors  between  fourteen  and 
sixteen  are  being  educated  at  present  in  the  day  schools,  full 
time.  Providing  part-time  classes  for  this  group  as  proposed, 
will  certainly  not  require  a  net  local  expenditure  larger  than 
the  present.  The  education  of  the  sixteen-year-old  illiterates 
in  part-time  classes  involves  a  new  expense;  also  those  com- 
munities which  have  conducted  no  night  schools  in  the  past 
will  have  a  new  expense.  The  expenditure  of  $788,225,  which 
it  is  estimated  the  State  should  contribute,  if  a  reasonable  op- 
portunity to  prepare  for  citizenship  is  offered  the  immigrant 
population  of  Massachusetts,  will  be  a  new  expense  for  the 
State. 

C.    The  School  as  a  Neighborhood  Center. 

The  use  of  the  school  as  a  social  and  civic  center  for  neigh- 
borhood development  should  do  much  for  the  immigrant.  For 
the  children  the  "centers"  offer  a  good  time  under  good  in- 
fluences, as  a  substitute  for  dangerous  commercialized  recrea- 
tion.   Here  the  older  immigrants  also  should  find  the  fellowship 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  147 

and  the  recreation  they  need.  Language  should  be  no  barrier, 
because  clubs  could  be  formed  for  different  nationalities  until 
the  latter  have  acquired  sufficient  English  to  enable  them  to 
join  the  general  groups.  In  these  clubs  the  immigrant  should 
be  helped  to  consider  and  to  understand  in  the  light  of  his  own 
experience  the  most  fundamental  problems  of  our  international, 
national  and  city  life. 

And  here,  in  the  neighborhood  where  they  live  and  where 
they  have  been  prepared  for  citizenship,  their  naturalization 
papers  should  be  given  them,  with  some  fitting  ceremony  that 
would  impress  both  old  and  new  citizens  with  the  solemn  re- 
sponsibilities inseparable  from  citizenship. 

If  each  nationality  were  encouraged  to  make  its  own  peculiar 
contribution,  musical,  literary  and  political,  the  benefits  of  our 
complex  population  might  be  conserved  through  these  centers. 
Perhaps,  also,  it  may  not  be  too  much  to  hope  that  the  ideals 
on  which  this  government  was  founded  may  find  concrete  ex- 
pression in  our  relations  with  one  another. 

Section  2.    Private  Schools  and  the  Immigrant. 

The  school  is  the  civic  agency  that  most  directly  comes  in 
contact  with  the  immigrant,  that  most  inspires  his  confidence 
and  that  can  most  effectively  accomplish  the  essential  result  — 
assimilation  —  which  makes  him  an  integral  part  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lives. 

Therefore,  the  efforts  of  those  schools  endeavoring  to  fulfill 
this  duty  to  the  State  should  be  stimulated  and  encouraged, 
while  those  schools  ignoring,  neglecting  or  indifferent  to  it 
should  at  once  be  aroused  to  a  thorough  realization  of  their 
obligation. 

Public-school  effort  to  teach  the  immigrants  the  English  lan- 
guage, and  at  least  a  rudimentary  knowledge  of  American  and 
social  ideals,  has  been  discussed.  Private  schools  also  have  an 
important  part  in  the  education  of  the  immigrant  children. 
Of  these  the  most  important  are  the  parochial  schools.  Their 
development  is  inspired  by  a  spiritual  motive,  which,  together 
with  the  unselfish  devotion  of  the  large  corps  of  teachers  who 
voluntarily  have  consecrated  their  lives  to  its  advancement,  is 
worthy  of  the  highest  respect.     Whether  or  not  we  agree  as 


148  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

to  the  desirability  of  such  racial  and  religious  segregation  within 
the  community  as  the  parochial  system  necessitates,  we  cannot 
but  admire  the  religious  sincerity,  the  self-denial  and  the  gener- 
osity of  the  masses,  who,  from  their  scanty  possessions,  give 
unstintedly  to  the  upbuilding  of  an  educational  system  which 
holds  spiritual  development  to  be  of  far  greater  importance 
than  material  progress  and  which  seeks  to  inculcate  love  and 
respect  for  God,  for  country,  for  authority  and  for  fellowmen. 

The  large  number  (over  200)  of  parochial  schools  throughout 
the  State  may  be  divided  into  two  groups:  first,  those  in  which 
the  teaching  is  conducted  in  English  exclusively,  and  second, 
those  in  which  some  of  the  instruction  is  conducted  in  English 
and  some  in  a  foreign  language. 

Schools  of  the  first  group  were  not  investigated  by  the  com- 
mission. Like  the  public  schools,  many  of  these  enroll  children 
of  non-English  speaking  parentage,  and  like  the  public  schools 
they  are  affording  those  children  the  associations  and  all  the 
advantages  of  instruction  that  they  are  affording  the  native-born. 

In  the  second  group,  39  schools  in  19  different  towns  and 
cities  in  Massachusetts  were  visited.  The  almost  universal  rule 
in  these  schools  is  to  teach  in  English  for  half  a  day,  and  in 
Polish,  Italian,  Portuguese,  French  or  Greek  for  half  a  day. 
These  bilingual  schools,  of  which  there  are  over  90  in  Massa- 
chusetts, present  a  problem  of  much  difficulty,  involving  both 
religious  and  national  motives  deeply  rooted  in  the  heart  and 
mind  of  the  foreign-speaking  peoples,  and  entitled  to  sympa- 
thetic recognition  by  the  entire  community.  The  problem, 
moreover,  includes  highly  important  social,  financial  and  eco- 
nomic considerations.  In  some  instances  it  is  being  successfully 
solved. 

Teachers  in  all  these  schools  have  to  deal  with  a  perplexing 
situation,  inasmuch  as  the  pupils  when  they  first  enter  rarely 
speak  English,  and  in  instruction  precedence  is  given  to  sub- 
jects conducted  in  their  native  tongue.  The  complication  is 
increased  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  many  of  these  teachers  have 
but  a  limited  knowledge  of  the  English  language;  comparatively 
few  speak  it  fluently,  some  do  not  speak  it  at  all.  Such  lay 
teachers  as  are  employed  are,  generally  speaking,  wholly  un- 
qualified.     In    certain    schools   of   one    nationality,    conducted 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  149 

wholly  by  lay  teachers,  the  instruction,  discipline  and  results 
are  a  mere  travesty  of  even  rudimentary  educational  methods. 
Under  such  conditions  proper  progress  in  English  or  any  other 
study  is  impossible. 

The  atmosphere  of  any  one  of  these  schools  depends  mainly 
upon  the  attitude  of  the  pastor  of  the  church  with  which  it  is 
connected.  While  some  of  these  pastors  are  thoroughly  imbued 
with  American  ideals,  the  majority  are  of  foreign  birth,  educa- 
tion and  training,  so  intensely  devoted  to  their  native  land  that 
their  patriotism  permits  no  divided  allegiance;  hence  any  special 
emphasis  upon  the  study  of  English  or  upon  American  tradi- 
tions and  ideals,  which  often  the  Superior  in  immediate  charge 
would  gladly  undertake,  does  not  enlist  their  sympathy  or 
meet  with  their  approval. 

Furthermore,  while  we  have  the  greatest  respect  for  the 
exalted  character,  disinterested  service  and  untiring  zeal  of  the 
teachers,  we  must  regretfully  declare  that  in  very  many  cases 
they  are  not  equipped  by  previous  training  (often  excel- 
lent in  their  own  language  and  literature),  by  familiarity  with 
American  civic  or  social  ideals,  or  with  the  stress  of  modern 
economic  pressure,  to  impress  sympathetically  upon  the  un- 
derstanding of  their  pupils  the  fundamental  knowledge  which 
is  required  alike  in  the  interests  of  the  State  and  of  the  future 
industrial  life  of  the  pupils  themselves.  In  some  instances  the 
atmosphere  is  so  intensely  foreign  that  progress  in  acquiring 
English  is  deprecated  rather  than  encouraged. 

In  drawing  comparisons  between  these  and  other  schools  the 
element  of  time  must  be  considered;  for  as  the  system  of 
parochial  schools  and,  particularly  of  bilingual  schools,  is  com- 
paratively young,  it  could  hardly  be  expected  that  these  pri- 
vately maintained  schools  should  be  able  to  make  as  rapid 
progress  in  the  character  of  their  buildings  and  equipment  as 
those  schools  maintained  by  the  public  purse. 

While  a  large  number  of  the  school  buildings  are  of  excellent 
construction  in  every  respect,  and  many  may  be  rated  as  rea- 
sonably good,  some  were  not  originally  erected  for  school  pur- 
poses; they  are  distinctly  bad  in  lighting,  and  in  ventilation 
and  are  positively  injurious  to  the  physical  well-being  of  the 
children. 


150  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

The  financial  resources  of  these  schools  —  mainly  the  volun- 
tary offerings  of  poorly  paid  wage  earners  —  are  utterly  inade- 
quate to  the  magnitude  of  the  work  undertaken.  This  financial 
handicap  may  be  regarded  as  the  principal  cause  of  the  in- 
ability of  so  many  of  these  schools  to  approach  modern  educa- 
tional requirements  in  housing,  in  limiting  the  size  of  classes 
to  reasonable  numbers,  in  the  character  of  textbooks  used,  or  in 
the  employment  of  a  sufficient  number  of  thoroughly  efficient 
lay  teachers  to  offset  the  scarcity  of  teachers  of  the  religious 
orders. 

When  we  consider  the  comparatively  inelastic  character  of 
the  wages  of  the  groups  who  support  these  schools,  and  the  in- 
creasing cost  of  living,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  revenues 
upon  which  these  schools  depend  can  be  greatly  enlarged. 

The  beneficent  influence  of  the  spiritual  training  received,  and 
of  the  constant  example  of  simple  dignity  and  refinement  which 
these  teachers  afford,  is  evidenced  by  the  unusual  degree  of 
respect  and  courtesy  which  marks  the  conduct  of  the  pupils 
toward  their  superiors  in  age  or  in  authority,  and  is  worthy  of 
special  recognition. 

That  the  knowledge  of  a  second  language  has  cultural  advan- 
tages is  beyond  dispute,  and  should  be  encouraged,  for  in  the 
history,  traditions,  literature  and  art  of  the  various  nations  there 
is  much  that  would  enrich  American  life.  But  it  is  not  in  the 
pursuit  of  culture  that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  these 
children  are  to  spend  their  lives.  The  far  more  practical  and 
far  more  difficult  problem  of  bread-winning  is  the  one  to  which 
—  day  in  and  day  out  —  they  will  be  forced  to  devote  their 
unremitting  attention.  It  is  therefore  of  vital  importance  to 
them,  as  well  as  to  the  State,  that  they  should  be  fitted  in  the 
best  possible  manner  for  this  daily  bread-and-butter  struggle. 
As  they  succeed  or  fail  in  this  they  will  become  an  asset  or 
a  liability  of  the  State,  for,  waiving  other  grave  possibilities, 
there  inevitably  will  be  a  marked  increase  in  dependence  result- 
ing from  the  premature  physical  and  mental  breakdown  of  those 
who,  from  lack  of  proper  training,  are  forever  unable  to  escape 
from  the  most  exhausting  and  the  poorest-paid  occupations. 

It  is  therefore  of  importance  to  the  Commonwealth  that  in 
the  secular  instruction  in  these  schools,  the  study  of  English 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  151 

should  be  given  first  place,  and  that  all  studies,  except  religion 
and  the  native  language  of  the  children,  should  be  conducted  in 
the  English  language.  The  study  of  the  foreign  language  should 
be  made  clearly  subordinate  to  that  of  English.  It  should  be 
possible  to  follow  this  plan  without  serious  interference  with  the 
spiritual  or  national  motive  of  these  schools. 

Attendance  at  public  schools  or  at  approved  private  schools 
is  required  by  law  of  the  Commonwealth.  This  law  places  upon 
the  local  school  committees  the  obligation  of  approving  private 
schools,  "when  the  instruction  in  all  the  studies  required  by  law 
is  in  the  English  language,  and  when  they  are  satisfied  that 
such  instruction  equals  in  thoroughness  and  efficiency,  and  in 
progress  made  therein,  the  public  schools  in  the  same  city  or 
town."  *  For  obvious  reasons,  such  as  local  influence,  political 
expediency  and  in  some  cases  indifference,  the  school  com- 
mittees make  no  pretence  of  fulfilling  this  obligation  and,  under 
existing  conditions,  there  is  no  prospect  that  they  ever  will. 

The  task  of  gradually  bringing  these  schools  up  to  the  desired 
standard  is  one  calling  for  infinite  wisdom,  tact  and  patience, 
as  well  as  for  clear  comprehension  and  sympathetic  recognition 
of  the  aspirations  of  the  people  who  voluntarily  support  them. 
In  such  a  spirit  the  task  should  be  begun  at  once,  and  plans 
in  the  best  interest  of  all  concerned  should  be  worked  out  har- 
moniously. As  the  local  school  committees  have  not  even  at- 
tempted to  perform  this  task,  the  commission  recommends 
that  this  responsibility  be  vested  in  the  State  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, as  provided  in  the  bill  that  is  submitted  with  this  re- 
port.2 

Section  3.    The  Public  Library  and  the  Immigrant. 

Every  town  in  Massachusetts,  with  one  exception,  has  some 
sort  of  public  library.  That  these  libraries  should  be  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  education  of  the  immigrant  there  can  be 
no  question.  Experience  has  shown  that  the  only  way  in 
which  the  adult  immigrant  can  be  introduced  to  the  library  is 
through  books  and  papers  in  his  own  language.  These  should 
be  fiction  and  other  books  of  the  same  general  type  as  those 
offered  to  the  American  reader,  and  in  addition,  books  also  in 

1  Revised  Laws  aj  Massachusetts,  ch.  44,  sec.  2.  *  See  p.  223. 


152  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

his  own  language,  giving  the  history  of  the  United  States  and 
discussions  of  the  most  important  public  questions. 

At  the  request  of  the  Free  Public  Library  Commission  the 
Legislature  of  1913  authorized  the  appointment  of  a  special 
agent  by  that  Commission  and  appropriated  $2,000  for  the  de- 
velopment of  this  work.  Since  August  a  librarian  with  wide 
experience  among  the  foreign-born  has  been  visiting  the  different 
cities  and  towns  that  have  a  large  immigrant  population,  in 
order  to  interest  both  the  foreign  colonies  and  the  officers  of  the 
library  in  an  extension  of  the  library's  patronage  among  these 
people. 

Complete  statistics  have  not  yet  been  secured  by  the  Free 
Public  Library  Commission,  but  of  99  libraries  reporting  a 
foreign-speaking  population  in  their  territory,  only  61  have  any 
foreign  books.  Boston  with  books  in  29  languages,  and  Spring- 
field and  Worcester  with  books  in  22  languages,  have  the 
largest  number  of  foreign  books.  Many  of  the  libraries  in  the 
smaller  industrial  towns  feel  that  they  have  insufficient  funds 
to  warrant  the  purchase  of  books  which  would  be  something  of 
an  experiment;  others  that  have  the  money  find  great  difficulty 
in  learning  what  books  to  purchase;  and  still  others  do  not 
know  how  to  inform  the  immigrant  as  to  what  the  public  li- 
brary has  to  offer  him. 

On  all  of  these  questions  the  agent  of  the  Free  Public  Li- 
brary Commission  has  furnished  expert  advice.  For  the  benefit 
of  the  smaller  communities,  19  traveling  libraries  of  foreign 
books  have  been  sent  out  by  the  commission,  and  2  especially 
chosen  libraries  have  been  furnished  to  construction  camps. 
This  is,  however,  only  a  beginning  of  what  should  be  done. 
More  books  should  be  provided,  so  that  the  interest  of  the  im- 
migrant, once  aroused,  may  be  used  to  further  his  acquaintance 
with  the  language  and  life  of  the  people  among  whom  he  lives. 

This  commission  therefore  recommends  that  the  Free  Public 
Library  Commission  receive  an  increased  appropriation,  so  that 
it  may  greatly  extend  the  traveling  foreign  library  feature  -of 
its  work. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  153 


CHAPTER  VII. 

NATURALIZATION. 

The  question  as  to  whether  the  immigrants  who  come  to 
Massachusetts  are  to  remain  aliens  or  to  become  citizens  is  of 
great  importance  to  the  State.  The  requirements  for  citizen- 
ship are  fixed  by  the  United  States  government,  but  the  civic 
education  of  those  who  are  to  become  voters,  and  their  prep- 
aration for  sharing  in  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship,  must 
be  undertaken  by  the  State  or  by  the  local  community. 
Moreover,  although  the  requirements  for  naturalization  are  a 
federal  matter,  the  question  as  to  who  is  to  be  permitted  to 
vote  is  decided  by  the  State.  In  Massachusetts,  at  the  present 
time,  a  citizen  cannot  vote  unless  he  is  able  to  read  the 
constitution  of  the  Commonwealth  in  the  English  language.1 
It  is  a  question,  however,  whether  such  ability  is,  in  itself, 
evidence  of  the  extent  of  the  applicant's  educational  qualifica- 
tion. Therefore,  it  would  appear  not  unreasonable  to  require 
that  the  minimum  qualification  for  voting  shall  be  the  attain- 
ment of  literacy  as  defined  in  the  Massachusetts  statutes. 

Requirements  for  Citizenship. 

The  lack  of  uniformity  of  procedure  in  the  different  States 
of  the  Union,  and  the  large  amount  of  fraud  practiced,  led  to 
the  passage  of  the  naturalization  law  of  1906,  by  which  the 
Bureau  of  Immigration  and  Naturalization  was  created.  By 
limiting  to  courts  of  record  jurisdiction  over  naturalization, 
and  by  providing  for  the  examination  of  petitions  for  naturaliza- 
tion, the  law  of  1906  added  to  the  dignity  of  becoming  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  and  decreased  the  likelihood  of  fraud.  It 
also  made  naturalization  more  difficult;  the  requirements  are 
higher  and  the  expense  greater.2 

1  Revised  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  ch.  11,  sec.  12. 

2  According  to  the  provisions  of  the  law  of  1906  the  immigrant  may  declare  his  intention  of 
becoming  a  citizen  at  any  time  after  he  is  eighteen  years  old.  He  is  required  to  give  facts  con- 
cerning his  age,  birthplace,  residence,  etc.,  and  also  the  details  of  his  arrival.  His  petition  for 
naturalization  may  be  made  after  two  years  have  passed  from  the  time  of  his  declaration  of 
intention  and  after  five  years'  continuous  residence  in  this  country;  it  must  be  signed  in  his 
own  handwriting.  In  order  to  prove  his  residence  he  must  produce  two  witnesses  who  have 
known  him  for  a  period  of  at  least  five  years.  The  fees  amount  to  $5;  $1  at  the  time  of  filing 
thejpetition  and  $4  on  receiving  the  certificate  of  naturalization.  No  alien  who  does  not  speak 
English  may  be  naturalized. 


154  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

Courts  of  Naturalization  limited  in  Massachusetts. 

The  United  States  statutes  give  the  right  to  naturalize  to 
any  United  States  District  Court  or  to  any  State  court  of 
record.  In  Massachusetts,  however,  the  Legislature  has  limited 
the  rights  of  the  inferior  courts,  and  permits  the  power  of  nat- 
uralization to  be  exercised  only  by  the  Superior  Courts  of  the 
State,  and  of  course,  by  the  United  States  District  Court.  In 
Suffolk  County  naturalization  papers  are  granted  only  by  the 
United  States  District  Court  in  Boston;  in  every  other  county 
in  the  State  the  State  Superior  Court  sits  for  naturalization  at 
least  once  during  the  year.  In  several  counties,  hearings  are 
held  in  more  than  one  city  so  that  persons  may  be  naturalized 
in  23  cities  of  the  State,  including  Boston.  The  hearings  are 
infrequent;  in  only  one  or  two  cases  does  a  Superior  Court 
sit  for  naturalization  in  the  same  city  more  than  twice  a  year. 
The  United  States  District  Court  has  from  fifty  to  seventy-five 
naturalization  hearings  in  the  course  of  a  year,  depending  upon 
the  number  of  applicants. 

Limiting  to  any  such  extent  the  number  of  courts  having 
jurisdiction  over  naturalization  is  not  a  practice  common  to 
most  of  the  States.  In  1912  there  were  onlv  8  other  States 
where  there  were  so  few  courts  exercising  the  power  of  natu- 
ralization as  in  Massachusetts,  while  there  were  only  3 
States  —  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Illinois  —  where  there 
were  more  certificates  of  naturalization  issued.1  In  Illinois, 
where  only  about  one  thousand  more  certificates  were  issued 
than  in  Massachusetts,  there  were  115  courts  with  jurisdiction 
over  naturalization  as  compared  with  18  in  Massachusetts. 
The  United  States  Examiner  for  Naturalization  in  New  Eng- 
land approves  this  limitation  in  the  number  of  natural- 
ization courts,  for  he  believes  that  the  work  is  managed  better 
by  a  few  courts,  and  that  the  possibility  of  fraud  is  thus  re- 
duced to  a  minimum. 

From  other  persons,  however,  complaints  were  received  by 
the  commission  of  the  greater  cost  and  inconvenience  resulting 
from  the  fact  that  fewer  courts  are  now  given  jurisdiction. 

The  distance  that  the  immigrant  sometimes  has  to  travel  to 
procure  his  naturalization  papers  doubtless  deters  some  from 

1  Annual  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  1912,  p.  194. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  155 

making  the  attempt  to  become  citizens.  In  Worcester  County, 
for  example,  a  man  living  in  Athol  must  go  fifty  miles  to  Fitch- 
burg  to  be  naturalized.  A  Finn  living  in  a  small  town  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  State  said  that  few  of  his  countrymen  could 
afford  to  be  naturalized.  He  himself  had  to  pay  his  two  wit- 
nesses each  $5  a  day  for  two  days,  in  addition  to  the  car  fare 
to  Boston  and  the  loss  of  two  days'  work  for  himself.  The 
cost  of  the  immigrant's  own  railroad  fare  in  these  cases  is  not 
large,  but  when  trebled  in  order  to  pay  for  the  witnesses,  and 
taken  in  conjunction  with  the  loss  of  the  day's  wages,  it  be- 
comes a  serious  matter  for  the  average  immigrant. 

Even  when  the  immigrant  lives  in  the  city  in  which  the 
court  is  held,  the  time  that  he  and  his  witnesses  must  lose 
from  their  work  is  sufficient  to  be  an  important  considera- 
tion with  him.  In  some  courts  a  great  effort  is  made  to  waste 
as  little  of  the  immigrant's  time  as  possible;  in  one  city,  at 
least,  the  day  is  divided  into  periods,  and  men  of  certain  nation- 
alities are  told  to  come  at  certain  hours  so  that  they  may 
be  attended  to  as  swiftly  as  possible.  But  in  most  courts 
the  applicant  loses  considerable  working  time. 

As  there  is  no  intention  or  desire  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment to  make  the  securing  of  naturalization  papers  inconven- 
ient for  those  who  have  qualified  for  citizenship,  these  com- 
plaints should  be  given  careful  consideration.  It  is  believed 
that  Saturday  afternoon  or  night  sessions  of  the  court  would 
meet  the  difficulty. 

Numbers  naturalized  in  Massachusetts. 

In  spite  of  the  higher  standard  for  naturalization,  fixed  by 
the  law  of  1906,  there  has  been  no  falling  off  in  the  numbers 
who  are  being  naturalized  in  Massachusetts,  as  is  shown  by  the 
following  table.  Attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  the  number 
of  petitions  for  naturalization  that  have  been  filed,  and  of  cer- 
tificates of  naturalization  that  have  been  issued,  during  the  last 
two  years  is  more  than  equal  to  that  of  the  four  preceding  years. 


156 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Table  17. — Declarations  of  Intention  and  Petitions  for  Naturalization 
filed,  and  Certificates  of  Naturalization  issued,  Fiscal  Years  ended 
June  30,  1901-1912} 


1907. 

1908. 

1909. 

1910. 

1911. 

1912. 

Declarations,        .... 

4,845 

9,327 

10,024 

11,985 

12,773 

12,766 

Petitions, 

1,023 

2,463 

2,830 

3,359 

4,462 

5,806 

Certificates,          .... 

383 

1,677 

2,453 

3,048 

2,879 

4,608 

In  the  investigation  of  the  commission,  personal  histories 
were  obtained  from  1,059  male  immigrants.  Of  these,  68 
were  naturalized  and  177  others  had  made  their  declarations  of 
intention;  that  is,  245,  or  25  per  cent  of  the  whole  number, 
were  either  citizens  or  had  declared  their  intention  of  becoming 
citizens.  In  connection  with  the  small  percentage  who  had 
become  citizens  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  investigation 
was  especially  concerned  with  the  immigrant  who  was  a  recent 
arrival;  42  per  cent  of  all  visited  had  been  in  this  country  less 
than  five  years,  and  71  per  cent  less  than  ten  years.  The  in- 
vestigation of  the  commission  was  not  sufficiently  extensive  to 
justify  using  it  as  a  basis  for  drawing  conclusions  as  to  the 
relative  desire  shown  by  men  of  different  nationalities  to  be- 
come citizens  of  the  United  States.  It  was  found,  however,  that 
there  was  a  considerably  larger  percentage  naturalized  among 
the  Russian  Jews  than  among  any  of  the  other  nationalities  with 
which  the  commission  was  especially  concerned. 


Certificates  of  Naturalization  denied. 

The  following  table  gives  the  reasons  for  the  denial  of  certi- 
ficates of  naturalization  during  the  last  three  years  for  which 
figures  are  available :  — 

1  Compiled  from  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


157 


Table  18.  —  Certificates  of  Naturalization  denied  in  Massachusetts  during 
the  Three  Years  ended  June  30,  1912,  together  with  the  Reason  for  Denial. l 

Want  of  prosecution,2 387 


Incompetent  witnesses, 
Ignorance, 

Insufficient  residence, 
Immoral  character, 
Xo  jurisdiction, 
Premature  petitions, 
Already  a  citizen,    . 
Other  reasons, 


Total  number  of  certificates  denied, 

Total  number  of  certificates  granted,  . 
Percentage  of  denials,     .... 


48 
35 
24 
23 
13 
10 
6 
63 


609 

10,535 
5.9 


The  failure  of  each  one  of  the  609  men  to  receive  certificates 
has  of  course  kept  others  from  applying,  as  many  are  dis- 
couraged by  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered  and  by  the  final 
failure  of  their  friends  to  become  citizens. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  two  most  frequent  reasons  for  the 
denial  of  certificates,  barring  "want  of  prosecution/'  are  "in- 
competent witnesses"  and  "ignorance."  Doubtless,  also,  in  a 
large  number  of  the  387  cases  under  "want  of  prosecution,"  the 
case  was  not  prosecuted  because  of  one  of  these  two  reasons :  the 
foreigner  was  unable  to  produce  the  necessary  witness,  or  his 
ignorance  left  him  little  hope  of  passing  the  tests. 

Preparation  for  Naturalization. 

So  far  as  the  interests  of  the  State  are  concerned,  proper 
preparation  for  naturalization  is  a  highly  important  considera- 
tion. The  1,059  male  immigrants  interviewed  in  the  course  of 
the  investigation  made  by  the  commission  were  questioned  as 
to  what,  if  any,  preparation  they  had  had  for  naturalization. 
Two  hundred  and  forty-five  were  either  citizens  or  had  filed 
their  declaration  of  intention,  but  only  24  said  that  they  had 
been  prepared  in  any  way.  In  most  of  these  24  cases  preparation 
meant  little;   a  few  had  attended  night  school  with  citizenship 


1  Compiled  from  the  Annual  Reports  oj  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration. 
■  That  is,  failure  to  prosecute  their  claims. 


158  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

in  view,  several  were  studying  English  at  home,  and  the  rest 
were  attempting  to  prepare  themselves  by  learning  the  Consti- 
tution or  reading  American  history  or  books  on  civics.  A 
young  Russian  Jew,  who  had  been  in  this  country  six  years, 
said  that  he  had  practiced  writing  his  name  and  had  read  a 
part  of  the  Constitution  before  applying  for  his  first  papers. 
Another  Russian  Jew,  an  older  man,  said  that  he  was  expect- 
ing to  get  his  final  papers  the  following  week.  He  had  read  a 
few  pages  of  United  States  history,  and  his  wife  was  teaching 
him  and  urging  him  to  "learn  the  Constitution  and  civil  gov- 
ernment." A  Pole  who  was  out  of  work  was  found  laboriously 
spelling  through  a  United  States  history.  Another  man,  who 
was  attempting  to  study  for  his  second  papers,  complained  that 
he  found  it  very  difficult  because  few  of  his  friends  were  willing 
to  help  him. 

A  knowledge  of  their  inability  to  measure  up  to  the  standard 
for  citizenship  keeps  many  foreigners  from  taking  any  steps 
toward  naturalization ;  this  is  shown  by  some  of  the  answers  to  the 
question  asked  the  immigrants,  as  to  why  they  had  not  been 
naturalized.  Out  of  approximately  800  men  who  had  taken  no 
steps  toward  naturalization,  132  said  that  they  could  not  meet 
the  requirements  for  citizenship,  either  because  they  knew  no 
English  or  because  they  could  not  write;  24  gave  as  a  reason 
uncertainty  as  to  methods  of  naturalization;  while  8  said 
merely  that  it  was  too  difficult  to  be  considered.  The  facts 
given  in  the  schedules  were  corroborated  by  testimony  at  the 
hearings.  At  one  of  the  Boston  hearings  a  Syrian  priest  spoke 
emphatically  of  the  desire  of  his  countrymen  to  be  citizens,  of 
their  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  necessary  procedure,  and  their 
difficulty  in  acquiring  sufficient  English. 

The  fact  that  the  immigrant  who  desires  to  become  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States  needs  assistance  can  hardly  be  questioned.  How 
can  he,  wearied  by  long  hours  of  work,  unaccustomed  to  study, 
and  unfamiliar  with  the  language  and  customs  of  the  country, 
prepare  himself  for  naturalization  by  poring  over  the  Constitution 
in  the  hope  of  learning  the  duties  of  American  citizenship?  The 
standard  for  naturalization  should  not  be  lowered.  In  practice, 
however,  it  is  not  at  present  met;  nor  wrill  the  examination  given 
ever  meet  the  standard  set  up  in  the  law  until  the  immigrant 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  159 

who  is  in  earnest  is  given  a  proper  opportunity  to  prepare  to 
pass  the  required  tests. 

In  Massachusetts  the  preparation  of  the  foreigner  for 
naturalization  has  been  left  almost  entirely  to  private  agencies 
and  societies.  In  several  of  the  social  settlements  of  Boston 
classes  in  naturalization  are  held,  and  some  work  is  being  done 
in  various  parts  of  the  State  through  such  organizations  as  the 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  and,  on  a  much  larger 
scale,  by  the  North  American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants  and 
by  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.1 

To  a  limited  extent  the  foreigners  also  attempt  to  prepare 
each  other  for  citizenship.2  There  are  naturalization  clubs  in 
Massachusetts  among  Italians,  Poles,  Lithuanians,  Finns  and 
French-Canadians.  Typical  examples  are  found  in  Lynn.  The 
Italian  Naturalization  Society  of  that  city  is  incorporated  and 
has  78  members.  It  has  club  rooms  in  the  down-town  district, 
where  from  time  to  time  lectures  are  given.  Twenty  members 
of  the  club  have  become  fully  naturalized,  and  many  have  their 
first  papers.  The  Polish  society  is  also  incorporated  and  has  98 
members,  of  whom  48  are  fully  naturalized.  This  club  reports 
that  it  holds  lectures  each  winter  in  Polish  and  English,  and  in 
1913  a  class  of  35  was  given  lessons  in  English  by  the  president 
of  the  club.  When  members  who  are  ready  for  naturalization 
cannot  meet  the  cost,  the  club  pays  the  witness  fees  and  trans- 
portation, and  compensates  the  witnesses  for  loss  of  wages. 

In  communities  where  the  French-Canadian  population  is 
large  and  long  established,  these  naturalization  clubs  are  losing 
their  original  features.  For  instance,  in  one  city  the  twelve 
naturalization  societies  which  formerly  existed  are  now  or- 
ganizations more  or  less  political  in  character. 

1  During  the  year  1912-1913,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  conducted  17  classes  in 
naturalization  in  13  cities  and  towns  of  the  State,  and  between  November  1, 1912,  and  November  1, 
1913,  assisted  500  men  to  get  final  papers,  and  about  300  to  take  out  first  papers;  11  nationalities 
were  represented  in  their  naturalization  classes.  The  North  American  Civic  League  has  as  one 
of  its  aims  the  interesting  of  immigrants  in  the  "requirements  of  American  citizenship."  The 
direct  results  of  its  attempt  to  prepare  men  for  citizenship  are  evident  in  the  cities  where  it  has 
been  doing  work  along  this  line  in  connection  with  the  public  schools. 

1  See  ch.  XI,  sec.  2,  Organizations  among  Immigrants  for  Self-help. 


160  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

The  Public  Evening  Schools  should  prepare  for  Naturalization. 

The  work  of  preparation  for  naturalization  is  too  important 
to  be  left  to  the  more  or  less  irregular  efforts  of  the  clubs  and 
private  societies,  which  at  best  can  reach  only  a  comparatively 
small  number  of  people.  Logically,  the  public  school  should 
undertake  this  work.  An  attempt  was  made  to  find  out  to 
what  extent  this  was  being  done  by  the  schools  of  the  State. 
Outside  of  Boston  reports  were  received  from  the  superintend- 
ents of  67  cities  and  towns  that  had  evening  schools  in  1912- 
1913.  Nine  of  these  superintendents  reported  classes  preparing 
for  naturalization,  some  of  which  seem  to  have  been  general 
classes  in  history  and  civics.  In  some  schools  the  necessary  in- 
formation was  given  in  an  incidental  way  throughout  the 
course;  in  other  schools,  where  no  definite  effort  was  made  to 
instruct  a  class  as  a  whole,  advice  was  offered  any  pupils  who 
manifested  a  desire  to  be  naturalized. 

In  few  cases,  however,  even  in  cities  and  towns  where  evening 
schools  are  held,  is  it  possible  for  the  foreigner  to  gain  through 
the  public  school  the  information  necessary  for  naturalization, 
or  to  prepare  for  it  in  any  definite  way  beyond  the  acquisition 
of  the  ability  to  speak  English  and  to  read  and  write.  In  283 
cities  or  towns  of  this  State  where  there  are  no  evening  schools, 
no  provision  whatever  is  made  by  the  public  for  the  assistance 
of  the  immigrant  who  wishes  to  prepare  for  citizenship.  That 
many  immigrants  would  gladly  take  advantage  of  such  assist- 
ance seems  evident  from  the  use  they  make  of  the  private 
societies.  The  investigators  in  the  course  of  their  visits  were 
frequently  questioned  both  as  to  the  method  of  becoming  nat- 
uralized and  as  to  the  possibility  of  joining  study  classes  in 
preparation  for  the  tests. 

Naturalization  Ceremony  needed. 

Appreciation  of  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship  would  be  in- 
creased if  some  sort  of  impressive  ceremony  were  used  when 
the  final  papers  are  granted.  This  is  the  only  way  in  which 
old-world  people  accustomed  to  dignified  official  procedure  can 
be  taught  to  feel  that  they  are  entering  upon  a  new  period  of 
their  lives.     Many  of  those  who  feel  very  solemnly  the  change 


— 
= 


- 


c 
o 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  Hil 

in  their  allegiance  are  shocked  at  the  informality  of  the  present 
procedure,  and  the  whole  thing  seems  to  them  to  have  been 
made  coarse  and  cheap.1  Where  a  ceremony  has  been  tried  the 
effect  has  been  found  most  wholesome. 

Recommendations . 

The  commission  therefore  recommends:  — 

1.  That  literacy  as  defined  in  the  Massachusetts  statutes 
shall  be  the  minimum  educational  qualification  for  participa- 
tion in  the  suffrage  in  this  State. 

2.  That  an  investigation  be  made  as  to  whether  the  reduc- 
tion in  the  number  of  courts  of  naturalization  in  Massachusetts 
has  resulted  in  unnecessary  hardship  to  the  immigrant.  If 
the  State  Board  of  Immigration  hereinafter  recommended  be 
created,  it  could  make  such  investigation. 

3.  That  the  Superior  Courts  of  the  Commonwealth  and  the 
United  States  District  Courts  try  the  experiment  of  holding 
night  sessions  of  the  courts  of  naturalization. 

4.  That  the  public  evening  schools  of  the  State  give  special 
training  for  naturalization. 

5.  That  certificates  of  naturalization  be  formally  presented 
with  a  ceremony  calculated  to  impress  both  the  immigrant  and 
the  American  with  the  dignity  and  importance  of  citizenship. 

1  Certificates  were  formally  granted  with  speeches  and  patriotic  music  in  the  assembly  hall 
of  the  high  school  of  Lawrence  twice  last  year  before  a  large  number  of  native  and  naturalized 
Americans  and  newly  arrived  immigrants.     It  is  expected  that  the  custom  will  be  continued. 


162  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

PROTECTION   AGAINST   ABUSES   AND   FRAUDS   TO   WHICH 
THE   IMMIGRANT   IS  PECULIARLY  LIABLE. 

Section  1.    Arrival  and  Transit. 

The  development  of  the  port  of  Boston  will  increase  the  need 
of  protecting  the  immigrant  on  his  arrival  and  during  his 
transit  through  Massachusetts,  for  with  the  increase  in  the 
number  of  steamers  arriving  the  number  of  immigrants  entering 
at  Boston  will  also  greatly  increase.  It  is  therefore  highly 
important  for  the  Commonwealth  to  consider  whether  it  is 
properly  meeting  the  human  responsibility  which  comes  with 
the  development  of  its  commercial  policy.  As  the  admission  of 
immigrants  is  a  federal  matter,  the  conditions  surrounding  their 
release  are  also  largely  under  federal  control.  But  wherever  the 
United  States  authority  or  supervision  stops,  the  responsibility 
of  the  State  begins,  so  it  is  necessary  to  determine  the  extent 
to  which  the  federal  government  is  providing  adequate  care 
and  protection  for  those  who  arrive  at  the  port  of  Boston,  or 
who  arrive  at  some  other  port  and  come  to  Massachusetts. 


The  United  States  Immigration  Station. 

The  United  States  Immigration  Station  in  Boston  is  on  Long 
Wharf  at  the  foot  of  State  Street.  Here  immigrants  who  fail 
to  pass  primary  inspection  on  the  docks,  and  who  are  held  for 
observation  of  their  physical  or  mental  condition,  are  detained 
until  their  friends  or  relatives  can  be  heard  from,  or  until  the 
Secretary  of  Labor  has  decided  an  appeal  which  has  been  taken 
from  the  decision  of  the  local  Commissioner  of  Immigration  as 
to  their  eligibility  for  admission  into  the  United  States. 

These  detention  quarters  are  disgracefully  inadequate,  and 
would  be  extremely  dangerous  in  the  event  of  fire.  Two  ap- 
propriations for  a  new  station  have  been  made,  —  one  of 
$]  .10,000  in  1910,  and  another  of  $125,000  in  1911.  Of  this 
1275,000,  804,000  has  been  spent  in  the  purchase  of  a  site  in 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  L63 

East  Boston,  but  nothing  more  has  been  done.  In  view  of  the 
shocking  conditions  prevailing  on  Long  Wharf,  this  long  con- 
tinued administrative  inactivity  is  wholly  inexcusable. 

Conditions  on  the  Docks. 

Unfortunately,  the  inspection  of  immigrants  by  the  federal 
government,  to  determine  whether  or  not  they  shall  be  ad- 
mitted, is  not  conducted  at  any  one  place  in  Boston  as  it  is  at 
Ellis  Island.  On  the  East  Boston,  Charlestown  and  Common- 
wealth (South  Boston)  docks  a  room  is  equipped  for  the  in- 
spection of  the  immigrants,  and  this  room  is  entirely  under  the 
control  of  the  United  States  immigration  officials.  Xext  it  is  a 
general  waiting-room  for  third-class  and  steerage  passengers. 
From  the  inspecting  room  the  public  is  excluded,  in  order  that 
there  may  be  no  possible  coaching  of  the  immigrants  for  their 
examination.  Admission  to  the  waiting-room  is  denied  all  ex- 
cept those  who  hold  custom  passes.  In  so  far,  then,  as  the 
public  is  excluded  from  the  docks  in  Boston,  it  is  in  the  interest 
of  the  enforcement  of  the  immigration  and  the  tariff  regulations. 
At  Ellis  Island  the  protection  of  the  immigrant  is  also  considered. 

In  Boston,  after  the  immigrant  has  passed  inspection,  he  is 
regarded  as  needing  assistance  and  direction  no  more  than  the 
cabin  passengers.  That  very  much  more  is  necessary  for  the 
bewildered  immigrant  there  can  be  no  question.  The  waiting- 
room  in  which  he  finds  himself  when  admitted  is  a  scene  of 
hopeless  confusion.  Those  who  are  to  remain  in  Boston  are 
not  separated  from  those  who  are  going  farther.  Certain 
favored  immigrant  bankers  and  agents  of  transfer  companies 
mingle  with  the  crowd  and  add  to  the  confusion.  There  is  no 
uniform  method  of  handling  the  baggage,  and  those  who  bring 
orders  for  railroad  tickets  to  their  destination,  and  those  who 
must  purchase  them  here,  are  not  systematically  passed  along 
to  the  different  officials  with  whom  they  must  deal. 

More  Supervision  of  the  Release  of  those  destined  to 

Boston  Necessary. 

Some  of  the  immigrants  who  are  going  to  friends  in  or  near 
Boston  —  the  very  young  or  those  who  have  suspicions  ad- 
dresses—  are  detained  bv  the  United  State-  officials  until  their 


164  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

friends  have  been  notified  to  call  for  them;  but  the  great  ma- 
jority are  released  after  primary  inspection.  As  soon  as  his 
baggage  has  been  examined  the  average  immigrant  is  free 
to  leave.  Here  is  where  his  confusion  begins.  He  has  no 
way  of  knowing  whether  or  not  his  friends  and  relatives 
are  waiting  for  him  in  the  crowd  outside  the  docks,  unless  it 
happens  that  a  representative  of  one  of  the  private  societies 
offers  to  go  through  the  crowd  for  him,  calling  out  the  name  of 
the  person  whom  he  expects.  The  helplessness  of  the  young 
immigrant  woman  who  plunges  into  this  crowd  alone  can  be 
appreciated. 

The  employees  of  transfer  companies  also  solicit  patronage 
in  the  third-class  waiting-room,  and  occasionally  obtain  money 
from  the  immigrants  on  all  sorts  of  false  pretences. 

Representatives  of  some  of  the  immigrant  banks  are  admitted 
to  the  docks,  and  as  the  immigrants  come  out  of  the  inspection 
room  take  in  charge  not  only  those  whose  prepaid  tickets  were 
purchased  at  the  "bank"  they  represent,  but  others  also. 
These  they  take  first  to  the  bank  and  then  to  their  relatives  or 
friends.  Some  of  these  bankers  claim  that  they  make  no  charge 
for  taking  an  immigrant  from  the  dock  to  his  address,  but  evi- 
dence to  the  contrary  was  found.  For  example,  a  Polish  girl 
arrived  on  the  "Hanover"  at  the  Commonwealth  Pier  in  No- 
vember. She  was  going  to  a  South  Boston  address,  but  was 
taken  by  an  immigrant  banker  to  his  establishment  on  Salem 
Street,  in  the  North  End,  charged  75  cents,  and  then  placed 
on  a  street  car  and  left  to  find  the  South  Boston  address  alone. 

In  this  case  the  girl  brought  an  address  other  than  that  of  the 
banker  who  took  her  from  the  dock,  but  many  are  admitted  who 
have  only  a  bank  or  steamship  agency  address.  These  immigrant 
bankers  and  ticket  agents,  for  obviously  commercial  reasons, 
encourage  those  in  America  who  are  sending  for  their  relatives 
or  friends  to  give  the  address  of  the  bank.  This  practice  should 
be  discouraged  by  the  government,  as  investigation  shows  that 
the  banker  seldom  knows  what  has  become  of  girls  who  gave 
liis  address  on  the  manifest  sheets. 

An  investigator  for  the  commission,  together  with  two  men 
and  two  women  immigrants,  was  put  in  a  cab  by  another  of  the 
immigrant  bankers  on  one  of  the  docks.     Each  of  these  five 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  165 

persons  paid  the  banker  81  before  they  started,  and  besides 
this  the  driver  demanded  50  cents  from  each  when  they  reached 
their  destination.  The  legal  fare  was  50  cents  in  each  case. 
The  driver  could  not  find  the  friends  of  the  investigator  at  the 
address  he  showed,  and  with  complete  absence  of  responsi- 
bility left  the  "immigrant"  to  shift  for  himself  in  the  crowd 
that  gathered  around  him. 

This  situation  has  several  ugly  aspects.  The  privileges  given 
the  bankers  on  the  dock  may,  as  in  this  case,  help  to  build  up  the 
control  which  is  so  many  times  abused;1  illegal  fares  are  collected 
and,  most  serious  of  all,  a  person  supposed  to  be  entirely  ignorant 
of  the  language  and  the  city,  may  be  abandoned  when  friends  are 
not  to  be  found.  Failure  to  find  the  relative  or  friend  is  a  very 
frequent  occurrence.  Many  immigrants  who  arrive  bring  incorrect 
addresses.  Polish  girls  frequently  come  with  what  proves  to  be 
an  old  or  incorrect  address  of  some  one  from  their  village.  For 
example,  the  records  at  the  office  of  the  Commissioner  of  Immi- 
gration show  that  a  Polish  girl  of  eighteen  arrived  on  the 
"Cleveland"  in  November,  and  was  going  to  her  father  at  51 
Beckford  Street,  Roxbury.  Investigation  later  on  showed  that 
the  man  was  unknown  at  that  address  and  the  girl  had  never 
been  heard  of. 

A  Lithuanian  girl,  twenty-one  years  of  age,  who  arrived  on 
the  "Laconia"  during  the  same  month,  according  to  the 
records,  was  going  to  her  brother  at  164  St.  Clair  Street,  Bos- 
ton. When  an  effort  was  made,  by  an  investigator  for  the 
commission,  to  verify  her  arrival  it  was  discovered  that  there  is 
no  such  street  in  Boston,  and  although  St.  Charles  and  several 
other  streets  were  tried,  the  girl  could  not  be  found.  Both  of 
these  girls  may  have  been  met  at  the  dock  and  taken  to  the 
correct  address  of  their  relatives,  but  the  official  records  do  not 
show,  as  they  should,  whether  this  was  or  was  not  the  case. 

If  a  girl's  friends  cannot  be  found,  a  cabman  is  certainly  not 
the  one  who  should  be  trusted  to  arrange  for  her  care.  The 
drivers  employed  by  the  bankers  and  transfer  companies  on  the 
dock  are  picked  up  when  a  boat  arrives,  and  employed  at  a 
fixed  price,  usually  20  or  25  cents  an  hour.  It  would  not  be 
surprising  if  these  men  had  no  interest  in  the  delivery  of  the 

1  See  sections  on  Safeguarding  Immigrant  Savings,  pp.  175  ff.,  Employment  Agencies,  pp.  38 
ft".,  and  Construction  Camps,  pp.  6)  IT. 


166  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

immigrant,  beyond  the  day's  wages  and  the  illegal  fee  which 
they  may  be  able  to  collect.  No  record  of  the  names  or  ad- 
dresses of  the  immigrants  is  kept  by  the  immigrant  banker  or 
transfer  company,  so  there  is  no  check  on  the  drivers. 

Immigrants  whose  friends  cannot  be  traced  are  sometimes 
brought  to  one  of  the  agencies  working  among  immigrants.  The 
superintendent  says  she  never  raises  the  question  as  to  the 
fares  charged,  as  this  might  mean  that  the  girls  would  not  be 
brought  to  her  in  the  future,  and  she  thinks  their  moral  safety 
more  important  than  the  prevention  of  financial  exploitation. 
With  proper  supervision  of  the  release  of  the  immigrants,  moral 
and  financial  exploitation  could  both  be  avoided. 

Only  by  official  control  of  this  situation  can  proper  protec- 
tion be  given.  Those  who  are  going  beyond  Boston  should  be 
separated  from  those  who  are  to  remain.  Representatives  of 
bankers  and  transfer  companies  should  be  kept  out  of  the 
crowd.  Those  who  call  for  immigrants  should  furnish  some 
identification,  and  their  names  and  addresses  should  be  re- 
corded. The  federal  immigration  authorities  should  keep  a 
record  of  the  immigrants  who  are  delivered  by  cabmen,  to- 
gether with  the  name  and  number  of  the  cabmen.  These  cab- 
men should  be  required  to  report  back  any  addresses  at  which 
immigrants  were  left  other  than  the  ones  recorded  when  they 
were  taken  from  the  dock.  The  keeping  of  this  record  would  in 
itself  prevent  many  of  the  practices  which  are  now  so  general. 
If  an  investigator  representing,  for  instance,  the  proposed  Board 
of  Immigration  occasionally  checked  up  these  cabmen,  very 
much  greater  protection  than  is  now  possible  could  be  given  at 
a  very  small  cost. 

The  Work  of  Private  Societies  on  the  Docks. 
The  Commissioner  of  Immigration  for  Boston  reported  that 
representatives  of  the  following  societies  are  authorized  to  work 
among  the  immigrants  at  the  various  docks  when  passenger 
steamships  arrive:  the  North  American  Civic  League  for  Immi- 
grants, the  Immigrants'  Home  of  the  Women's  Home  Mission- 
ary Society  of  the  Methodist  Church,  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association,  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  the 
Hebrew  Immigrant  Aid  Society  and  the  Italian  Immigrant  Aid 
Society.     In  addition  to  these,  the  investigator  for  the  commis- 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  167 

sion  found  the  following:  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, the  Council  of  Jewish  Women,  the  American  Tract  Society, 
the  Swedish  Lutheran  Immigration  and  Seamen's  Home,  a  Nor- 
wegian organization,  the  Bethany  Danish  Lutheran  Church,  the 
Polish  Immigration  Society  and  the  Massachusetts  Bible  Society. 

Some  of  these  agencies  do  not  meet  many  boats,  and  a  few 
of  them  do  very  little  intelligent  work  when  they  are  on  the 
docks.  Others  are  doing  everything  that  a  private  agency  can 
do  to  give  the  assistance  of  which  these  people  are  so  much  in 
need.  Some  of  the  work  which  they  are  undertaking  to  do  can 
be  done  effectively  only  by  the  federal  government,  because 
agents  of  private  societies,  however  intelligent  and  resourceful, 
are  without  the  authority  which  is  necessary  to  give  adequate 
protection.  It  often  happens  during  the  busy  seasons  that  there 
are  more  than  a  thousand  immigrants  on  one  steamer,  and 
occasionally  more  than  one  steamer  arrives  in  a  day.  With  no 
separation  of  those  who  are  going  beyond  Boston,  there  is  such 
confusion  that  the  agents  of  societies,  no  matter  how  competent 
they  may  be,  cannot  be  sure  of  discovering  those  who  are  most 
in  need  of  help. 

The  private  society  has,  however,  an  important  field  of  serv- 
ice which  can  never  be  covered  by  the  government.  For  ex- 
ample, the  relatives  and  friends  of  an  immigrant  girl  often  can- 
not be  discovered  because  of  any  number  of  things  which  may 
have  happened  to  them  since  the  girl  last  heard  from  them. 
The  government  ought  not  to  release  her  unless  some  one  is 
willing  to  undertake  to  care  for  her  and  assist  her  in  finding 
work.  Because  the  girl  is  eager  to  remain,  is  healthy  and  willing 
to  wrork,  a  private  agency  offers  to  do  these  things  for  her. 
This  is  a  serious  responsibility  which  the  government  grants 
and  the  private  society  accepts. 

It  is  therefore  extremely  important  that  agencies  should  not 
be  admitted  to  the  docks  or  detention  quarters,  and  that  immi- 
grants should  not  be  released  to  them,  unless  these  agencies  arc 
investigated,  not  once  but  frequently  by  the  State  Board  of  Chari- 
ties, or  by  the  proposed  State  Board  of  Immigration  whose  judg- 
ment the  Commissioner  of  Immigration  could  also  consult.  There 
is  a  great  opportunity  for  exploitation  should  the  agent  of  a  so- 
ciety  prove   unscrupulous.     This   is   not   so   likely   to   happen 


168  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

as  that  the  work  of  some  of  the  agencies  may  result  in  harm 
because,  although  well  meant,  it  is  unintelligently  done.  Those 
agencies  which  do  not  investigate  places  where  girls  are  placed, 
which  have  no  follow-up  system,  but  simply  trust  that  every- 
thing has  worked  out  as  well  as  they  hoped  it  would,  should 
not  be  permitted  to  do  this  work.  The  investigations  of  the 
United  States  Immigration  Commission  showed  that  careful 
supervision  of  these  societies  is  necessary.1  Such  supervision 
will  be  welcomed  by  societies  with  modern  standards  for  social 
work. 

Immigrants  who  are  going  to  Points  Outside  of  Boston  or 

Massachusetts. 
For  the  immigrant  who  is  going  beyond   Boston  there  are 
special  difficulties  in  connection   with  his  railroad  tickets,  his 
baggage  and  his  transfer  to  the  depot. 

Purchase  of  Railroad  Tickets. 

Many  immigrants  come  with  orders  for  railroad  tickets  to 
their  destination,  which  they  have  purchased  abroad  or  which 
were  sent  them  from  the  United  States.  These  orders  must 
receive  the  O.K.  of  an  official  of  the  steamsrhip  company,  and 
must  then  be  exchanged  for  a  ticket  at  the  railroad  ticket  office 
on  the  dock.  As  there  is  no  system  of  lining  up  the  immigrants 
and  having  them  pass  by  both  windows,  or  of  inspecting  their 
tickets  before  thev  leave,  manv  mistakes  are  made.  For  ex- 
ample,  a  Pole  who  went  to  Michigan  wrote  to  the  commission 
complaining  that  although  his  ticket  had  been  signed  and 
stamped  on  the  dock,  and  he  had  been  told  that  no  additional 
payment  was  necessary,  he  had  been  required  to  pay  Sll  to 
the  conductor  on  the  train.  He  had  not  understood  that  his 
order  should  have  been  exchanged  on  the  dock  for  a  ticket,  and 
believed  he  had  been  cheated.  The  steamship  company,  of 
course,  refunded  the  money  when  the  order  was  returned  by  the 
commission,  but  the  Pole  had  been  ignorant  of  the  fact  that 
a  refund  could  be  secured.  Again  and  again  the  investiga- 
tors for  the  commission  found  immigrants  at  the  South  Station 
who  had  had  a  similar  experience. 

1  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  37,  pp.  129-190. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  169 


Lost  Baggage. 
There  is  also  much  unnecessary  confusion  and  delay  on  ac- 
count of  baggage.  The  immigrant  who  has  a  through  ticket  is 
transferred  from  the  dock  to  the  railroad  station  free  of  charge, 
and  is  allowed  to  take  one  piece  of  baggage  without  payment. 
^  Those  who  are  going  on  the  Boston  &  Maine  or  the  Boston  & 
Albany  can  check  their  baggage  through  from  the  docks.  Those 
who  are  going  on  the  Xew  York,  Xew  Haven  &  Hartford  are 
usually  given  claim  checks  which  must  be  exchanged  for 
baggage  checks  at  the  depot.  As  the  immigrant  is  entirely 
ignorant  of  these  differences  this  leads  to  great  confusion  at 
the  South  Station.  Many  complaints  were  made  at  Fall  River 
of  the  frequent  loss  of  baggage,  and  also  of  the  fact  that  the 
transfer  company  sent  by  express  baggage  which  might  have 
been  checked.  One  immigrant  complained  that  he  paid  on 
the  dock  in  Boston  what  he  supposed  was  the  railway  baggage 
charge,  a  sum  which  was  much  more  than  the  legal  rate  for 
taking  the  baggage  to  the  station,  and  that  when  the  baggage 
finally  reached  him  the  express  charges  had  still  to  be  paid. 
The  fact  that  payment  is  commonly  made  to  railroads  in 
Europe  for  carrying  baggage  makes  it  easy  for  the  transfer 
agent,  should  he  be  dishonest,  to  defraud  immigrants  in  this 
way.  All  of  this  could  easily  be  controlled  if  this  matter  were 
supervised  by  the  federal  immigration  authorities. 

Telegrams  to  Friends. 
The  immigrant  who  is  going  beyond  Boston  is,  and  should 
be,  encouraged  to  advise  his  relatives  or  friends  of  his  coming. 
If  he  is  detained,  and  the  assistance  of  his  friends  is  necessary, 
accurate  information  of  the  cause  of  detention  should  be  sent 
at  once.  When  he  presents  himself  at  the  telegraph  stand  on 
the  dock  he  has  only  the  name  and  address  to  which  he  wants 
a  telegram  sent.  He  cannot  speak  to  the  operator  and  would 
not  know  what  to  say  if  he  could,  for  the  route  over  which  he 
is  to  travel  is  not  selected  by  him,  but  is  determined  by 
"friendly  agreement"  among  the  railroads  and  steamship  com- 
panies. The  time  of  his  departure,  and  whether  he  goes  on  a 
special  immigrant  train  or  by  one  of  the  regular  trains,  he  has 


170  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

no  means  of  knowing.  His  ignorance  and  complete  dependence 
make  it  so  easy  to  defraud  him  that  protection  is  always  neces- 
sary. The  whole  relation  of  the  immigrant  to  the  telegraph 
agent  is  so  different  from  that  of  the  ordinary  patron,  that 
special  regulations  are  needed. 

At  Ellis  Island,  because  of  the  enormously  greater  numbers 
that  arrive,  these  difficulties  have  been  more  apparent,  and  a  good 
many  safeguards  have  been  worked  out.  All  the  telegrams  in 
regard  to  detention  for  causes  which  may  mean  the  deporta- 
tion of  an  immigrant  are  regarded  as  official  and  are  signed 
by  the  Commissioner  of  Immigration.  In  Boston  these  tele- 
grams are  sent  out  by  the  steamship  companies.  For  other 
telegrams  the  telegraph  company  has  for  years  furnished  its 
operators  and  canvassers  at  Ellis  Island  with  printed  forms  on 
which  only  the  name  of  the  person,  the  railroad  and  the  hour 
of  departure  have  to  be  written  in.  A  receipt  showing  the  name 
and  address  of  the  person  to  whom  the  telegram  is  sent,  and 
the  amount  charged,  is  given  every  immigrant  who  sends  a 
message.  The  commission  found  none  of  these  precautions  taken 
in  Boston,  and  that  on  both  the  Cunard  and  the  White  Star 
docks  the  immigrants  were  frequently  overcharged  and  in- 
accurate telegrams  often  sent.  This  was  therefore  taken  up 
with  the  management  of  the  telegraph  company,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  a  system  similar  to  that  used  at  Ellis  Island  should 
be  adopted.1 

Food  on  the  Docks. 

Most  of  the  immigrants  who  are  going  to  points  beyond 
Boston  buy  at  the  lunch  counter  on  the  docks  one  meal  and  a 
lunch  for  the  journey.  Investigation  showed  that  hot  coffee 
or  hot  food  of  any  kind  cannot  usually  be  purchased;  that  the 
food  which  is  sold  is  poor  in  quality  and  very  high  priced.  One 
man  who  has  the  contract  to  furnish  food  for  those  immigrants 
who  are  detained  for  special  inquiry  at  Long  Wharf  runs  the 
lunch  counters  at  the  Cunard  and  the  White  Star  docks.  At 
his  stands  a  bottle  of  sarsaparilla  which  costs  10  cents  in  the 
city  sells  for  25  cents.  Canned  meat  sells  for  25  cents;  the 
same  package  can  be  purchased  at  grocery  stores  for  10  cents. 
A  5-cent  loaf  of  bread,  very  poor  in  quality  and  often  old,  he 
sells  for  10  cents. 

1  See  Appendix  P. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  171 

On  the  Hamburg- American  docks  a  lunch  bag  which  was 
being  sold  the  immigrant  for  50  cents  was  found  to  contain  a 
half  loaf  of  bread,  a  very  curious  looking  jelly  roll,  a  small 
piece  of  salami  sausage  and  five  small  apples.  The  lunch  box 
sold  at  Ellis  Island  for  the  same  price  contains  one  pound 
of  bread,  one-half  pound  of  sausage,  five  sandwiches,  one  car- 
ton of  crackers  and  three  pies.  While  the  greater  numbers 
handled  at  Ellis  Island  make  it  possible  to  buy  to  better  advan- 
tage, there  can  be  no  excuse  for  the  excessively  high  rate  and 
poor  quality  of  the  food  on  the  Boston  docks.  It  would  seem 
as  if  here,  as  at  Ellis  Island,  this  could  be  prevented  by  gov- 
ernment control. 

The  Immigrants  at  the  Railroad  Station. 

Inadequate  provision  is  now  made  for  the  protection  of  the 
immigrants  at  the  railroad  stations.  For  example,  those  who 
are  brought  from  the  docks  to  the  South  Station  to  take  the 
afternoon  train  for  Fall  River  are  turned  loose  in  one  of  the 
largest  railroad  stations  in  the  world  during  the  hour  wrhen  the 
crowds  make  it  most  bewildering.  And  yet  they  must  recheck 
their  baggage  and  find  their  trains  with  only  the  same  kind  of 
advice  and  help  that  is  given  the  American  traveler.  The 
dangers  at  the  railroad  station  are  greater  than  those  on  the 
docks,  because  the  general  public  is  not  admitted  to  the  latter. 

Those  who  arrive  almost  daily  from  New  York  to  remain  in 
Boston  are  assisted  by  representatives  of  the  North  American 
Civic  League  for  Immigrants.  But  here,  as  on  the  dock,  a 
private  society  is  without  the  authority  which  is  necessary  for 
adequate  supervision.  The  same  methods  suggested  for  the 
supervision  of  those  who  are  released  at  the  docks  should  be 
installed  by  the  federal  immigration  authorities  at  the  Boston 
railway  stations,  and  extended  to  other  important  immigrant 
centers. 

The  Journey  between  Boston  and  New  York. 

The  port  of  arrival  in  no  sense  determines  the  destination  of 
the  immigrant.  Many  enter  the  port  of  Boston  who  are 
destined  for  New  York,  and  more  who  are  destined  for  Massa- 
chusetts land  at  Ellis  Island. 

Through  an  agreement  entered  into  by  the  steamship  com- 


172  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

panies,  the  immigrants  are  sent  from  New  York  to  Boston  or 
from  Boston  to  New  York  by  the  Sound  boats. 

In  1819  the  first  regulation  of  the  steerage  quarters  of  ocean 
vessels  was  made  by  the  United  States  government.  As  early 
as  1847 1  more  than  two  tiers  of  berths  were  prohibited  in 
vessels  carrying  immigrants  from  Europe  to  America  or  from 
America  to  Europe.  The  standard  for  ventilation,  for  the  space 
required  for  each  passenger,  for  cleanliness  and  for  separate 
provision  for  the  sexes  has  been  raised  by  legislation  from  that 
time  to  this,  and  further  improvements  will  undoubtedly  be 
required  by  the  present  Congress.  To  insure  the  carrying  out 
of  the  provisions  of  the  law  the  boats  are  inspected  before  every 
sailing  by  United  States  consuls  in  Europe  and  by  custom 
officers  in  the  United  States.  The  experience  with  ocean 
steamers  gave  the  government  every  reason  for  anticipating 
that,  in  the  absence  of  regulation  and  inspection,  overcrowding, 
insanitary  conditions  and  inadequate  protection  for  the  women 
and  girls  were  sure  to  be  found  in  the  boats  engaged  in  this 
interstate  business,  but  nothing  has  been  done  to  prevent  these 
evils. 

Self-interest  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  should  have 
suggested  special  precaution  in  the  protection  of  the  morals  and 
the  health  of  the  immigrant  after  he  has  been  admitted  to  the 
United  States.  But,  on  the  contrary,  although  much  thought 
has  gone  into  the  protection  of  the  immigrant  on  his  journey 
to  the  United  States,  his  journey  in  America  has  gone  entirely 
unconsidered. 

Complaint  was  received  by  this  commission  with  regard  to 
these  Sound  boats,  of  the  sanitary  conditions,  the  treatment  of 
the  women  by  the  crew,  and  the  serious  overcrowding  of  the 
immigrant  quarters  during  the  rush  season.  Investigators  of 
the  commission  were  therefore  assigned  to  make  the  trip  as 
immigrants. 

They  found  the  beds  filthy,  the  ventilation  incredibly  inade- 
quate and  the  overcrowding  serious.  The  immigrant  men  were 
made  the  butt  of  coarse  jokes,  and  the  Polish  girls  were  com- 
pelled to  defend  themselves  against  the  advances  of  the  crew, 
who  freely  entered  the  women's  dormitory  and  tried  to  dra^ 

i  Act  of  February  22,  1847. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — Xo.  2300.  173 

the  girls  into  the  crew's  quarter.  On  one  boat  petty  graft 
was  found  to  be  practiced  by  some  of  the  crew.  These  con- 
ditions were,  of  course,  due  to  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  com- 
pany, but  also  to  even  greater  neglect  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  government  in  taking  none  of  the  precautions 
which  experience  had  shown  were  absolutely  essential  in  ocean 
travel. 

In  the  hope  of  securing  immediate  improvement  in  the  con- 
ditions found  on  these  boats,  the  reports  of  the  investigators  of 
the  commission  were  submitted  to  the  New  England  Steamship 
Company.  The  officers  of  the  company  at  once  replied  that 
thev  had  been  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  the  conditions  until 
the  reports  of  the  commission  were  received,  and  assured  the 
commission  that  after  investigation  the  company  would  either 
submit  plans  for  the  improvement  of  this  service,  or  would 
abandon  it,  as  the  kind  of  thing  the  commission  reported  would 
not  be  tolerated.  The  company's  investigation  confirmed  that 
of  the  commission  and  some  steps  were  at  once  taken  for  im- 
provement. Arrangement  was  made  by  the  company  for  with- 
drawing the  boats  in  turn  from  the  service,  in  order  that  the 
immigrant  quarters  could  be  rebuilt  so  as  to  provide  outside 
ventilation  for  both  men's  and  women's  quarters,  more  sanitary 
washrooms,  and  complete  separation  of  the  crew's  quarters 
from  those  of  the  immigrant.  Arrangements  were  made  for 
clean  linen  and  bedding  for  every  trip.  An  immigrant  steward 
with  assistants  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  immigrant  service, 
and  a  special  immigrant  stewardess  was  assigned  to  the  women's 
quarters. 

After  these  changes  were  promised  by  the  company,  one  more 
trip  was  made  by  the  investigators  for  the  commission,  when 
180  immigrants  who  arrived  in  Boston  were  sent  to  New  York 
by  way  of  Fall  River  on  the  "Priseilla."  Although  the  immi- 
grants' quarters  on  this  boat  had  not  been  rebuilt,  condi- 
tions were  much  improved.  The  immigrant  steward  and 
stewardess  seemed  kind  and  efficient.  All  but  three  of  the  men 
were  given  berths  by  using  the  quarters  usually  reserved  for 
soldiers.  The  linen  and  the  floors  of  the  dormitory  and  wash- 
rooms were  clean  when  the  boat  started. 

The   company   reported   on    December   22   that    the   steamer 


174  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

"Providence"  had  been  rebuilt  according  to  plans  submitted, 
that  the  "Plymouth"  and  the  "Chapin"  were  then  in  the  re- 
pair shop  being  renovated  and  rebuilt,  and  that  the  steamer 
"Priscilla"  would  be  withdrawn  and  similar  changes  made  in 
her  as  soon  as  the  "Plymouth"  was  back  in  the  service.1  Xo 
inspection  has  been  made  since  that  date.  All  this,  if  carried 
out,  will  mean  enormous  improvement  in  conditions.  But 
legislation  and  continuous  inspection  are  needed.  The  three 
and  four  tier  berths,  although  abolished  on  the  ocean  liners 
in  1847,  are  still  used  in  this  service,  and  the  temptation  to 
overcrowd  dangerously  and  to  lower  standards  during  the  rush 
season  is  very  great. 

While  it  is  believed  that  the  protection  and  supervision  of  the 
immigrant,  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  until  he  reaches  his 
destination,  can  be  more  effectively  handled  by  the  United 
States  government  than  by  the  State,  much  could  be  done,  as 
in  this  instance,  if  there  were  a  State  Board  of  Immigration 2 
which  was  authorized  to  make  inspections  and  to  suggest  the 
improvements  which  were  found  necessary. 

Inspectors  on  Immigrant  Trains. 
There  are  other  ways  in  which  the  immigrant's  journey  needs 
safeguarding.  Regular,  or  at  least  occasional,  trips  on  immigrant 
trains  by  inspectors  are  now  generally  recognized  as  the  only  way 
of  preventing  the  kind  of  exploitation  from  which,  it  has  been  dis- 
covered, the  immigrant  often  suffers  during  the  railroad  journey 
to  some  interior  point.  A  law  has  been  passed  by  Congress,3 
designed  to  provide  protection  for  the  immigrant  on  his  jour- 
ney from  the  port  to  the  interior,  but  unfortunately  the  neces- 
sary appropriation  for  carrying  it  into  effect  has  not  been  made. 

The  Immigrant  Head  Tax  Sufficient  to  pay  for  Adequate 
Protection  and  Supervision. 
Because  of  the  interstate  character  of  the  work,  and  the  fact 
that  the  control  of  the  admission  of  the  immigrant  is  a  federal 
matter,  all  the  increased  supervision  at  the  docks,  on  the 
boats,  at  the  railroad  stations  and  on  the  trains,  can,  it  is  be- 

1  See  Appendix  O  for  report  of  the  New  England  Steamship  Company. 
8  See  ch.  XIII,  A  State  Immigration  policy. 
*  Approved  Feb.  25,  1913. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  1 75 

lieved,  best  be  given  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Immigra- 
tion. It  is  only  fair  that  it  should  do  so,  for  the  United  States 
collects  a  head  tax  of  $4  from  every  immigrant  who  comes. 
In  the  year  ending  June  30,  1913,  this  head  tax,  for  the  port 
of  Boston  alone,  amounted  to  $254,872.  The  expenses  of  the 
immigration  service  in  Boston  amounted  to  only  §102,618.70.  It 
is  surely  not  the  intention  of  the  federal  government  to  levy 
upon  the  immigrant  a  tax  for  general  purposes  at  the  time  of 
his  admission,  when  his  little  capital  is  so  much  needed;  there- 
fore, the  money  collected  in  this  way  should  be  regarded  as  a 
trust  fund  to  be  devoted  entirely  to  improving  and  extending 
the  United  States  immigration  service.  The  use  of  a  very  small 
part  of  the  $152,253,  the  difference  between  the  amount  col- 
lected and  that  spent  in  Boston,  would  enormously  improve 
conditions  in  Massachusetts. 

But  the  Commonwealth  cannot  give  up  all  sense  of  responsi- 
bility. The  standard  of  protection  at  the  port  of  Boston  should, 
because  there  are  fewer  arrivals,  be  higher  than  that  on  Ellis 
Island.  The  reverse  has  been  true  in  the  past,  but  neither  the 
Commonwealth  nor  the  city  of  Boston  has  realized  this  fact. 
Xo  test  has  yet  been  made  of  what  might  be  accomplished  by 
a  display  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  local  government.  Dur- 
ing the  very  short  life  of  this  commission  important  improve- 
ments have  been  secured  by  merely  calling  attention  to  con- 
ditions which  its  investigations  revealed.  A  permanent  Board 
of  Immigration  could  do  much  more. 

Section  2.    Safeguarding  Immigrant  Savings. 

The  immigrant  bank,  with  Italian,  Russian  or  Austrian 
money  spread  alluringly  in  the  window;  with  its  signs  conspicu- 
ously placed,  announcing  that  the  proprietor,  a  fellow  country- 
man, is  a  notary  and  justice  of  the  peace  —  in  the  mind  of  the 
immigrant  an  evidence  of  great  legal  learning  and  influence; 
with  its  pictures  of  ships  ploughing  across  the  Atlantic,  suggest- 
ing that  this  is  the  place  to  deposit  the  savings  which  arc  to 
bring  the  immigrant's  wife  or  brother  or  children  to  Ameri< 
is  to  be  found  in  every  large  immigrant  colony. 

The  principal  business  of  the  immigrant  banker  is  Bending 
money  abroad,   for  the   immigrant   seldom   comes   to  America 


176  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

free  from  the  responsibility  of  caring  for  some  one  whom  he 
has  left  at  home.  The  situation  in  which  Mary  Antin's  father  l 
left  his  wife  and  children  made  it  necessarv  for  him,  however 
small  his  earnings  were  during  the  first  discouraging  years  of 
his  life  in  Boston,  to  send  money  to  them,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  lay  something  aside  to  purchase  the  steamship  tickets 
which  were  needed  to  unite  the  family  in  America.  His  is  a 
typical  case.  It  is  not  only  the  husband  and  the  father,  but 
the  young  men  and  women  as  well,  who  count  as  part  of  their 
"cost  of  living"  the  money  they  feel  they  must  send  to  their 
old  father  or  mother  or  a  younger  sister  or  brother  who 
wants  also  to  come  to  America.  While  some  money  is  sent  to 
the  banks  at  home  by  those  who  have  been  here  longer,  it  is 
especially  the  business  of  sending  small  amounts  to  the  relatives 
which  the  immigrant  banker  seeks  to  control. 

In  its  report  on  immigrant  banks,2  the  United  States  Immi- 
gration Commission  lays  emphasis  on  the  fact  "  that  the  immi- 
grant banker  deals  almost  wholly  with  the  great  body  of  float- 
ing alien  labor;  that  is,  those  of  more  recent  arrival  —  who 
constitute  a  class  furthest  removed  from  Americanization, 
notably  unversed  in  financial  matters,  easily  influenced  by 
racial  appeal  and  largely  dependent  upon  the  leaders  of  their 
own  nationality." 

These  patrons  of  the  immigrant  bank,  who  are  just  be- 
ginning life  under  new  conditions  and  with  heavy  responsi- 
bilities, are  without  the  information  which  enables  them  to  pro- 
tect themselves,  and  are  least  able  to  recover  from  financial 
losses.  They  are  therefore  most  in  need  of  protection  against 
the  evils  which  come  from  dishonest  or  unintelligent  banking. 

It  seems  therefore  of  importance  to  determine  whether  the 
regulation  of  immigrant  banks  and  bankers  in  Massachusetts 
is  sufficient  in  theory  and  well  enforced  in  practice. 

Present  Regulation  in  Massachusetts. 
Before  1905  there  was  no  regulation  of  this  type  of  banker 
in  Massachusetts,  and  frauds  and  failures  were  frequent  and 
disastrous  in  their  effect.3 

1  Antin,  Mary,  The  Promised  Land,  pp.  162-164. 

2  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  37,   p.  214. 
*  Idem,  p.  309. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  177 

Immigrant  bankers  are  in  most  instances  steamship  ticket 
agents  also,  and  therefore  the  first  attempts  at  the  regulation 
of  these  as  distinguished  from  other  private  bankers  were  based 
on  this  fact.  The  law  of  1905  *  required  all  corporations,  firms 
and  persons  engaged  in  the  selling  of  steamship  or  railroad 
tickets  for  transportation  to  or  from  foreign  countries,  who  re- 
ceive money  for  safe-keeping  or  for  transmission  abroad,  to  de- 
posit with  the  State  Treasurer  a  bond  in  the  sum  of  $15,000. 
Failure  to  do  this,  or  to  observe  the  other  provisions  of  the 
law,  was  made  a  misdemeanor  punishable  by  a  fine  of  from  $50 
to  $100  or  imprisonment  for  from  thirty  days  to  one  year.  This 
law  has  been  modified  by  amendments  passed  by  every  Legisla- 
ture from  that  time  to  the  present.  The  most  important  of 
these  are  (1)  the  amendment  that  places  these  agencies  under 
the  supervision  of  the  Bank  Commissioner,  and  provides  that  he 
shall  determine  the  amount  of  the  bond  and  approve  it  before 
it  is  accepted  by  the  Treasurer; 2  (2)  that  amendment  by  which 
employment  agents  who  combine  with  "the  business  of  supply- 
ing laborers"  the  receiving  of  money  for  safe-keeping  or  for  trans- 
mission abroad  are  included  in  the  law;3  (3)  those  amendments  by 
which  the  real  enforcement  of  the  law  is  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  local  police,  by  the  provision  that  the  police  of  the  city  or 
town  in  which  any  violation  of  the  law  occurs  are  required  to 
prosecute  the  offenders4  and  to  notify  the  Bank  Commissioner 
of  those  in  their  respective  cities  or  towns  to  whom  the  act 
applies  5;  (4)  that  amendment  requiring  these  agents  or  immi- 
grant bankers  to  pay  $50  for  a  license  if  they  propose  to  receive 
money  both  for  safe-keeping  and  for  transmission  abroad,  and 
S25  if  they  propose  to  do  the  latter  only. 6 

Those  "persons,  partnerships  or  corporations"  who  have  com- 
plied with  these  provisions  are  the  legal  or  authorized  "immi- 
grant bankers"  of  Massachusetts.  The  volume  of  their  business 
indicates  their  importance  from  this  standpoint. 

1  Massachusetts  Acts  and  Resolves,  1905,  ch.  423. 
»  Idem,  1907,  ch.  377. 
■  Idem,  1908,  ch.  493. 

*  Idem,  1906,  ch.  408,  sec.  4. 

*  Idem,  1910,  ch.  338,  sec.  2. 

*  Idem,  1912,  ch.  335. 


178 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Number  and  Business  of  the  Licensed  Immigrant  Banks. 

Since  1907  the  Commissioner  of  Banking  has  included  in  his 
annual  report  a  brief  statement  about  these  "bankers."  The 
following  table  is  based  on  these  reports :  — 


Table  19.  —  Number  of  Immigrant  Banks  furnishing  Bonds  to  the  State 
Treasurer  and  Amount  of  Money  received  as  Deposits  and  for  Trans- 
mission Abroad  from  1907  to  1912. 


Number 
authorized 
to  receive 
Money  for 
Transmis- 
sion Abroad. 


Amount  of 

Money 

transmitted 

Abroad. 


Number 
authorized 
to  receive 
Deposits 
for  Safe- 
keeping. 


Amount  of 
Deposits. 


1907, 
1908, 
1909, 
1910, 
1911, 
1912, 


68 
59 
64 
85 
76 
97 


$5,635,722  63 
4,451,940  26 
4,300,953  00 
6,377,849  00 
6,336,727  00 
7,110,860  00 


_i 
_i 

27 

31 

33 

37 


S388.740  77 

337,589  81 

560,955  00 

770,985  00 

1,058,181  00 

1,312,815  00 


During  the  year  1912,  according  to  these  figures,  these  immi- 
grant banks  sent  more  than  $7,000,000  abroad.  During  that 
same  year  the  value  of  the  international  money  orders  issued 
at  the  various  post  offices  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts  was 
$6,214,009.80,  —  nearly  $1,000,000  less,  —  a  fact  which  indicates 
that  the  advantages  of  postal  transmission  are  not  generally 
understood. 

The  law  regulating  these  banks  or  agencies  provides  for  two 
kinds  of  licenses,  as  we  have  said,  — one  authorizing  the  receiv- 
ing of  money  for  transmission  only,  the  other  authorizing  in 
addition  to  this  the  receiving  of  money  for  safe-keeping.  Only 
37  of  these  immigrant  banks  were  licensed  to  receive  deposits 
in  1912,  and  with  them  was  deposited  over  $1,000,000,  accord- 
ing to  the  figures  just  given.  The  soundness  of  these  immigrant 
banking  institutions  is  therefore  of  considerable  importance. 


1  Not  given  for  these  years. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  179 

The  Commission's  Investigations  of  Immigrant  Banks. 

In  August,  when  the  commission  began  its  investigation, 
there  were  90  licensed  immigrant  banks  situated  in  24  cities 
and  towns  in  the  State.  In  this,  as  in  its  other  investigations, 
the  time  at  the  disposal  of  the  commission  prevented  a  thorough 
covering  of  the  entire  number,  so  57  of  these  banks,  in  Boston, 
Brockton,  Cambridge,  Chicopee,  Fall  River,  Lawrence,  Lowell, 
Lynn,  New  Bedford,  North  Adams,  Springfield  and  Worcester, 
were  studied. 

An  attempt  was  made  in  this  investigation  to  learn  the 
general  standing  and  influence  of  these  bankers  in  the  foreign- 
born  and  American  community,  for  regulation  of  the  immi- 
grant banker  has  always  been  considered  in  connection  with 
the  other  functions  which  he  performs.  All  the  57  bankers 
investigated  by  the  commission  are  steamship  ticket  agents; 
33  are  also  notaries  public  and  16  are  justices  of  the  peace. 
Most  of  them  also  combine  banking  with  still  another  business. 
For  example,  in  21  cases  the  bank  is  part  of  a  small  store, 
usually  a  grocery  or  jewelry  store;  21  are  in  real  estate  and 
insurance  offices;  3  are  in  wholesale  liquor  stores;  2  are  in 
undertaking  establishments;  1  is  in  a  tobacco  factory;  and  2 
are  in  small  printing  offices.  The  practice  of  establishing 
branch  post  offices  in  immigrant  banks  has  been  generally 
abandoned  because,  as  the  United  States  Immigration  Com- 
mission1 pointed  out,  "the  connection  between  the  two  is  cal- 
culated to  do  much  harm,  inasmuch  as  there  is  shown  a  dispo- 
sition on  the  part  of  certain  bankers  to  use  their  official  position 
as  an  asset  in  attracting  patronage  for  their  banks."  The  immi- 
grant quite  naturally  supposes  that  all  the  business  transacted  at 
these  "banks"  is  under  United  States  supervision.  Neverthe- 
less, subpostal  stations  were  found  in  five  of  the  immigrant 
banks  visited  by  the  investigator  for  the  commission,  and  it  is 
evident  that  their  patrons  may  be  easily  deceived  in  this  way. 

Nationality  of  the  Patrons  of  Immigrant  Banks. 
Some  of  these  banks  deal  only  with  one  nationality.     Polo, 
Russians,    Ruthenians    and    Lithuanians    are,    however,    often 
found  patronizing  one  bank.    In  a  cosmopolitan  neighborhood  a 

1  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  37,  p.  232. 


ISO 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


banker  sometimes  has  sufficient  business  to  enable  him  to  em- 
ploy several  clerks  speaking  the  various  languages.  According 
to  the  bankers  interviewed  the  nationalities  with  whom  they 
have  business  relations  are  as  follows:  — 


Nationalities. 


Number  of 
Banks  dealing 
with  Different 
Nationalities. 


Italian,  . 
Russian, 
Polish,    . 
Jewish,  . 
Greek,    . 
Lithuanian,    . 
Armenian, 
Portuguese,    . 
Syrian,  . 
American, 
Finnish, 
Irish, 

Scandinavian, 
French,  . 


25 

12 

11 

9 

8 
6 
6 
5 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 


Methods  of  Transmission  used  by  Immigrant  Banks. 

Remittances  are  usually  made  through  the  money  order  de- 
partment of  the  American  Express  Company,  one  of  the  steam- 
ship lines  or  the  foreign  exchange  department  of  one  of  the 
larger  banks  of  New  York  or  Boston.  The  American  Express 
and  steamship  companies  make  a  practice  of  supplying  such 
bankers  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States  with  form  books  which 
are  used  for  this  business.  These  books  contain  blank  orders 
which  have  four  parts:  a  stub  which  is  kept  by  the  banker, 
an  advice  or  direction  slip  to  be  sent  with  the  money  to  the 
express  or  steamship  company,  an  advice  slip  to  be  sent  to  the 
payee  and  a  receipt  which  is  given  the  purchaser.  This  last  is 
the  personal  receipt  of  the  banker.  The  name  of  the  express 
or  the  steamship  company  does  not  appear  on  it,  and  these 
companies  do  not  become  responsible  for  the  safe  transmission 
of  the  money  until  they  receive  the  advice  slip  and  the  money. 

Fifty-seven  licensed  bankers  were  visited  by  the  investigators 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  181 

for  the  commission.  Of  these  bankers,  35  transmit  money 
through  an  express  company,  10  through  a  steamship  com- 
pany, 2  through  the  foreign  exchange  departments  of  Boston 
banks,  8  through  New  York  bankers  and  10  carry  accounts  in 
London,  Naples,  Rome  and  other  European  banks,  and  sell 
orders  on  these  banks.  Those  who  do  much  business  send 
money  abroad  sometimes  with  one  and  sometimes  with  another 
of  these  larger  companies  or  banks.  The  rates  charged  for  ex- 
change are  often  low,  as  a  result  of  lively  competition  for  the 
patronage  of  a  particular  nationality. 

Deposits  for  Safe-keeping. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  of  the  97  agencies  or  immi- 
grant banks,  only  37  were  licensed  in  1912  to  receive  deposits 
for  safe-keeping.  Of  the  57  bankers  visited  by  the  commission's 
investigators  29  were  authorized  to  do  this. 

In  each  of  these,  with  one  exception,  a  pass  book  bearing 
his  own  name  and  address  and  that  of  the  bank  is  given  the 
depositor.  In  one  case  an  ordinary  memorandum  book  is 
given,  hence,  in  the  event  of  death,  the  existence  of  the  ac- 
count would  not  be  easily  discoverable.  Another  bank  charges 
25  cents  for  a  pass  book.  This  one  and  16  of  the  other  immi- 
grant banks  that  receive  deposits  say  they  pay  no  interest. 
The  investment  of  the  deposits  is  not  regulated  by  law  and 
therefore  differs  with  the  "banker."  He  may  use  the  deposits 
to  meet  the  current  bills  of  his  grocery  store,  purchase  stocks 
or  real  estate  or  make  loans  or  he  may  deposit  them  at  interest 
with  a  State  or  national  bank. 

Considering,  then,  the  immigrants'  needs  and  the  character 
and  volume  of  business  transacted  by  the  licensed  agencies  or 
bankers,  the  question  is  whether  or  not  under  the  present  State 
law,  the  best  possible  protection  is  given  the  savings  of  the 
most  helpless  group  in  the  community.  At  present,  it  is  believed 
(1)  that  the  law  regulating  these  institutions  is  not  sufficiently 
inclusive;  (2)  that  the  best  provision  for  its  enforcement  is  not 
made;  and  (3)  that  even  when  enforced  it  does  not  give  proper 
protection  either  to  those  who  send  money  abroad  or  to  those 
who  deposit  for  safe-keeping. 

The  present    regulations    in  Massachusetts    apply  only  to 


182  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

steamship  ticket  and  employment  agents  who  transmit  money 
abroad  or  receive  deposits  for  safe-keeping.  There  can  be  no 
reason  why  a  ticket  agent  or  an  employment  agent  needs  to  have 
his  banking  operations  supervised  any  more  than  a  grocer  does 
who  is  in  the  banking  business,  and  the  Massachusetts  law 
should,  as  the  United  States  Immigration  Commission  pointed 
out,  include  all  those  who  are  engaged  in  this  banking  business. 

The  Law  is  not  properly  enforced. 

By  the  terms  of  the  law,  the  duty  of  detecting  and  of  prose- 
cuting those  who  come  within  its  provisions  and  are  not  licensed 
is  left  with  the  local  police.  While  the  co-operation  of  the 
local  officials  is  necessary,  the  Bank  Commissioner  must  also 
be  charged  with  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  if  there  is  to  be 
State  uniformity. 

In  Taunton  a  Portuguese  who  is  neither  an  authorized  steam- 
ship agent  nor  a  licensed  banker  advertises  as  both.  In 
April,  1912,  he  sold  two  checks,  Nos.  35,992  and  35,993,  on  the 
National  Provincial  Bank  of  London.  Payment  was  refused, 
as  the  Portuguese  agent  had  no  funds  on  deposit  with  the  bank. 
When  this  was  reported  to  the  Bank  Commissioner  the  present 
holder  of  the  checks  was  referred  to  the  local  police,  but  was 
told  that  the  police  could  not  be  forced  to  take  any  action. 
This  unlicensed  agent  is  therefore  still  in  Taunton  advertising 
among  the  Portuguese  that  he  sells  "drafts  to  all  parts  of  the 
world."  A  translation  of  a  circular  widely  distributed  in 
Montello  by  a  man  who  is  not  licensed  to  transmit  money  is 
given  in  the  Appendix.1 

How  many  such  persons  are  operating  in  defiance  of  the  law  it 
would  be  impossible  to  say.  During  its  very  brief  investigation 
the  commission  found  15.  The  United  States  Immigration 
Commission,  at  the  time  when  its  investigations  were  made, 
in  1908,  estimated  the  number  of  immigrant  bankers  in  Massa- 
chusetts to  be  175.  The  report  of  the  Bank  Commissioner 
shows  that  on  October  31,  1908,  the  total  number  of  those 
authorized  and  bonded  according  to  law  was  59,  although  "the 
number  making  reports"  to  the  commissioner  was  169. 2 

1  See  Appendix  N. 

•  Annual  Report  of  the  Bank  Commissioner  of  Massachusetts,  1908,  Pt.  I,  p.  xlvii. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  183 

In  1909,  according  to  the  report  of  the  Bank  Commissioner, 
blank  forms  were  sent  to  154  steamship  ticket  agents  supposed 
to  be  in  the  business,  and  sales  of  foreign  exchange  were  re- 
ported by  113.  Only  64  were  bonded  that  year.  "This  dis- 
crepancy," the  commissioner  explained,  "between  the  number 
reporting  sales  and  the  number  furnishing  bonds  is  explained 
by  the  fact  that  many  persons  selling  steamship  tickets  and 
also  receiving  money  for  transmission  to  foreign  countries  are 
employing  as  the  medium  for  this  transmission  the  drafts  of  the 
steamship  companies,  and  to  cover  their  acts  a  blanket  bond 
is  given  to  the  Commonwealth  by  these  companies. " 1  This  is 
still  the  practice.  The  law  provides  that  the  license  shall  not 
authorize  the  transaction  of  business  at  any  place  other  than 
that  described  in  the  license,  except  with  the  written  approval 
of  the  Bank  Commissioner.2  An  amendment  to  the  law  was 
passed  in  1907,  which  provided  that  the  act  should  not  apply 
to  drafts,  money  orders  and  travellers'  checks  issued  by  trans- 
atlantic steamship  companies  or  by  their  duly  authorized 
agents.3  This  section  was  however  repealed  in  1909,  with  the  ap- 
parent intention  of  including  the  companies  and  their  agents  with- 
in the  operation  of  the  law.  One  of  the  largest  of  these  com- 
panies gives  a  "blanket  bond"  of  $5,000  and  another  gives  one  of 
82,500;  this  exempts  their  agents  from  the  supervision  of  the 
State.  The  responsibility  of  these  companies  for  the  acts  of  their 
agents  would  doubtless  be  held  to  cover  the  agents'  transactions 
only  when  they  sold  the  company's  tickets  or  money  orders, 
and  not  if  they  received,  as  several  professed  themselves 
willing  to  do,  money  for  safe-keeping.  One  such  Polish  agent  is 
said  to  have  over  $5,000  in  deposits.  A  Polish  girl  showed  the 
investigator  for  the  commission  her  bank  book  showing  deposits 
of  $307.80  with  this  unlicensed  agent. 

Immigrant  Savings  deposited  with  Licensed  Agencies  are 
not  sufficiently  protected  under  the  present  law. 

The  only  real  protection  which  is  given  those  who  deposit  or 
transmit  money  by  the  licensed  immigrant  bankers  is  the 
bond  approved  in  amount  and  character  by  the  Bank  Com- 

1  Annual  Report  of  the  Bank  Commissioner  of  Massachusetts,  1909,  Pt.  I,  p.  xvii. 
*  Massachusetts  Acts  and  Resolves,  1911,  ch.  358,  sec.  1. 
»  Idem,  1907,  ch.  377,  sec.  7. 


184  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

missioner.  No  capital  or  reserve  is  required;  there  is  no  regula- 
tion of  investments  or  loans.  With  the  unlicensed  banker  even 
this  meager  regulation  is  lacking. 

Investigation  of  the  bonds  filed  with  the  Treasurer  up  to 
November  1  of  this  year  showed  99  such  banks  licensed;  35 
of  these  furnished  surety  bonds,  64  were  personal.  These  bonds 
varied  in  amounts  from  $500  to  8100,000;  altogether  they  were  in 
the  sum  of  8886,000.  In  1912  the  deposits  of  the  97  licensed 
agencies  amounted  to  81,312,815,  and  the  amount  of  money 
transmitted  was  87,110,860.  Thus  business,  amounting  to  over 
88,000,000,  was  covered  by  8866,000  in  bonds,  an  amount 
wholly  insufficient. 

What  happens  in  individual  cases  is  illustrated  by  the  case 
of  an  Italian  banker  in  Lawrence  who  disappeared  in  June, 
1913.  He  furnished  a  personal  bond  in  the  sum  of  82,500,  and 
whether  or  not  it  can  be  collected  had  not  been  settled  at  the 
time  of  the  commission's  investigation.  The  assets  of  the  bank 
consist  of  one  large  safe,  one  desk  and  some  chairs,  the  whole 
worth,  perhaps,  8150.  One  attorney  represents  seven  people 
who  had  on  deposit  for  safekeeping  with  this  bank  81,396,  and 
nine  people  who  deposited  for  transmission  81,820,  which  was 
never  received  by  those  to  whom  it  was  to  be  sent.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  the  claims  of  the  depositors  amount  to  about 
88,000. 

Another  Italian  banker  in  Lawrence  disappeared  the  same 
summer.  He  furnished  a  personal  bond  of  SI, 000.  The  only 
property  he  had  was  a  house  and  lot  which  was  mortgaged  to 
his  bondsman.  This  mortgage  was  foreclosed  after  the  banker's 
disappearance.  At  the  time  of  the  commission's  investigations, 
court  proceedings  had  not  been  begun  in  this  case,  and  it  was 
impossible  to  say  how  much  was  lost  through  him.  One  man 
reported  claims  amounting  to  8960,  and  three  others  had  de- 
posited with  him  for  transmission  abroad  8700,  which  was 
never  sent. 

Of  the  99  licensed  immigrant  banks,  46  gave  bonds  of  SI, 000, 
and  one  gave  a  bond  of  8500.  Such  amounts  are  altogether  too 
small,  as  a  clever  advertiser  could  accumulate  several  thousand 
dollars  at  any  time  that  he  desired  to  disappear.  The  regula- 
tion and  control  exercised  over  these  "banks"  cannot  be  said, 


1914.]  HOUSE  — Xo.  2300.  185 

therefore,  to  give  anything  like  the  security  for  their  patrons 
which  is  considered  necessary  for  other  banks  and  savings  insti- 
tutions. 

In  1913,  on  the  basis  of  recommendations  made  by  the  Bank 
Commissioner,  the  committee  on  banking  reported  to  the  House 
of  Representatives  a  bill *  regulating  the  investments  and  loans 
which  can  be  made  by  such  of  these  banks  as  receive  money 
for  safe-keeping,  and  requiring  that  the  security  and  invest- 
ment of  these  deposits  should  be  kept  entirely  separate  from 
any  other  business  in  which  the  banker  might  be  interested. 
This  law,  however,  failed  of  passage. 

Ordinary  American  Banks  have  not  met  the  Needs  of  the 
Non-English  Speaking  Immigrant. 

The  United  States  Immigration  Commission  found  in  its 
study  of  immigrant  banking  throughout  the  United  States 
"that  of  recent  years  there  has  been  a  tendency  among  the 
banks  in  the  financial  districts  of  St.  Louis,  Pittsburg,  Chicago, 
Cleveland  and  other  large  cities  to  establish  foreign  depart- 
ments with  competent  managers  and  clerks  of  the  various  races 
of  recent  immigration.  .  .  .  While  ostensibly  competitors  of  the 
immigrant  bank,  many  American  banks  through  departments 
of  this  character  add  much  toward  the  perpetuation  of  the 
immigrant  concerns  by  offering  to  them  easy  facilities  for 
the  transmission  of  money  abroad.  ...  In  addition  to  these 
departments  '  neighborhood '  and  branch  banks  in  sections  popu- 
lated by  immigrants  have  been  more  or  less  successful  in  se- 
curing a  share  of  the  immigrant  business,  both  as  regards 
remittances  abroad  and  savings  accounts.  .  .  .  Ignorance  of 
foreign  languages  on  the  part  of  clerks  of  the  average  savings 
bank,  and  unwillingness  and  inability  to  extend  to  the  immi- 
grant depositor  the  very  necessary  accommodation  of  patient 
assistance,  do  not  tend  to  attract  immigrant  patronage."  2  All 
of  this  has  been  true  of  Massachusetts  banks  until  very  re- 
cently, when  some  special  effort  has  been  made  to  meet  the 
immigrants'  needs. 

Whether  their  business  is  sufficiently  profitable  to  make  it 

»  House  No.  2362. 

*  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  37,  p.  216. 


186  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

probable  that  State  and  national  banks  or  trust  companies  will 
make  such  adjustments  as  are  necessary  to  care  for  these  people 
cannot  be  said.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  the  needs  of  the 
newly  arrived  immigrant  could  best  be  met  by  the  postal 
savings  and  foreign  exchange  department  of  the  post  office. 

The  Post  Office  and  the  Immigrant. 

Before  its  establishment  it  was  hoped  by  many  that  the 
postal  savings  bank  would  prove  a  formidable  rival  of  the  immi- 
grant bank.  The  people  who  come  from  Italy  and  Austria- 
Hungary,  it  was  argued,  are  familiar  with  such  an  institution, 
and  would  quickly  avail  themselves  of  the  privileges  it  offers. 
It  seemed,  therefore,  important  to  discover  how  far  this  ex- 
pectation had  been  fulfilled,  or  if  it  had  failed,  for  what  reason. 
There  are  205  postal  savings  banks  at  present  in  the  State, 
and  on  May  21,  1913,  the  official  audit  showed  the  net  deposits 
to  amount  to  $1,425,912.  The  total  deposits  for  the  year  were 
of  course  much  larger.  In  Boston  alone,  for  example,  during  the 
last  fiscal  year  they  amounted  to  over  $1,000,000.  As  to  how  far 
these  deposits  were  made  by  newly  arrived  immigrants  no 
official  figures  are  available.  The  postmasters  in  some  of  the 
principal  immigrant  centers  of  Massachusetts  were  asked  to 
estimate  what  per  cent  of  their  depositors  were  foreigners. 
Replies  were  received  from  29  cities  and  towns.  In  three  of 
these  the  total  deposits  had  not  amounted  to  $400,  and  per- 
centages for  such  small  amounts  would  of  course  be  of  little 
value.  In  the  others,  with  two  exceptions,  more  than  half  the 
depositors  were  foreign-born.  In  many  the  per  cent  was  very 
much  higher. 

The  difference  in  the  extent  to  which  the  savings  department 
of  the  post  office  is  used,  in  different  industrial  centers  where 
the  population  is  largely  foreign,  is  interesting.  In  Lawrence, 
for  example,  the  deposits  in  1912  amounted  to  $42,221,  and 
the  postmaster  estimates  that  98  per  cent  of  this  amount  was 
deposited  by  that  city's  immigrant  population;  Norwood  had 
$13,599  deposits,  92  per  cent  of  which  was  thought  to  have 
been  deposited  by  the  Russians,  Italians  and  Finns;  in  Lowell 
the  deposits  were  only  $4,360,  and  only  6  per  cent  of  this 
amount  is  credited  to  foreigners;  in  Peabody  the  deposits  were 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  1S7 

813,099,  and  92  per  cent  of  this  amount  is  believed  to  have  been 
deposited  by  the  Russians,  Turks  and  Greeks.  Seven  of  the  post- 
masters in  these  cities  attribute  the  use  of  the  postal  savings  bank 
by  these  people  to  familiarity  with  similar  ones  in  Europe;  five, 
to  implicit  belief  in  it  because  it  is  a  government  institution; 
nine,  to  distrust  of  private  banks;  and  two  think  the  postal 
savings  bank  is  found  to  be  more  convenient  than  other  bank- 
ing institutions. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  knowledge  of  the  postal  savings 
bank  is  not  very  general  among  the  foreign-born.  In  reply 
to  the  question,  "How  do  you  think  the  use  of  the  postal 
savings  bank  by  the  foreign-born  might  be  increased?"  seven 
of  the  postmasters  said  that  increased  publicity  was  necessary, 
and  recommended  the  distribution  of  circulars  and  pamphlets 
explaining  the  functions  and  advantages  of  the  postal  savings 
bank;  others  thought  schools  and  foreign  churches  should  co- 
operate, and  another  suggested  personal  solicitation.  It  was 
perhaps  to  be  expected  that  the  eight  postmasters  who  ap- 
preciated the  fact  that  the  government  must  advertise  the 
postal  savings  banks  if  they  are  to  compete  with  the  immigrant 
banks  were  the  ones  who  already  had  a  large  number  of  immi- 
grant depositors.  Eight  thought  an  increase  in  the  rate  of  in- 
terest necessary,  but  as  no  interest  is  paid  by  the  immigrant 
banker,  in  most  cases,  this  would  not  seem  necessary  to  increase 
the  immigrant  deposits;  eight  also  recommended  that  the 
present  limit  on  the  yearly  and  monthly  deposits  should  be 
abolished;  and  one  knew  that  pass  books  are  considered  much 
safer  than  the  certificates  of  deposit  which  the  post  office  issues. 

A  very  valuable  service  would  be  rendered  the  foreign-born 
if  schools  and  other  public  agencies  helped  in  spreading  informa- 
tion about  the  postal  savings  banks.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
with  enlargement  of  their  scope,  which  is  at  present  much 
needed,  the  postal  savings  banks  will  become  increasingly  better 
known  and  therefore  more  useful. 

Is  the  Immigrant  Bank  Necessary? 

Much  that  is  sentimental  has  been  said  about  the  services 
which  the  immigrant  banker  performs  for  his  people,  and  about 
the  consequent  necessity  for  lax  laws  so  that  he  may  not  be 


188  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

forced  out  of  business.  In  some  cases  the  immigrant  banker 
is  a  public-spirited  leader  and  interpreter  of  his  people.  In  too 
many  cases,  however,  the  reverse  is  true,  and  it  is  a  part  of  his 
business  policy  to  develop  among  his  countrymen  an  unde- 
sirable dependence  upon  himself,  by  conducting  what  is  often 
a  bureau  of  misinformation.  He  meets  the  immigrants  at  the 
docks  and  takes  them  to  the  bank,  where  he  gives  them  his 
business  cards  and  envelopes  before  he  sends  them  to  their 
relatives  or  friends;  should  immigrants  be  detained  by  the  in- 
spector, he  prepares,  often  very  badly  and  for  a  high  price,  the 
affidavits  of  their  relatives,  and  promises  to  arrange  through 
his  friend  "the  senator"  for  their  admission;  he  gets  them  a 
job,  and  furnishes  them  with  an  interpreter,  a  lawyer  and  a 
bondsman  should  they  be  in  trouble,  for  with  all  of  such 
persons  and  with  many  others  he  has  shrewdly  established 
connections. 

But  whatever  services  the  immigrant  banker  does  or  does  not 
perform,  in  addition  to  those  for  which  he  is  licensed,  these  can- 
not be  considered  as  an  excuse  for  the  freedom  and  the  lack  of 
supervision  which  at  present  jeopardize  the  savings  entrusted  to 
him.  The  present  system  is  in  the  long  run  really  profitable 
only  to  the  express  and  steamship  companies,  whose  business 
is  undoubtedly  stimulated  by  the  activity  of  the  greater  numbers 
who  are  thus  engaged  in  urging  the  immigrants  to  send  their 
money  abroad  in  order  to  begin  to  save  toward  the  purchase 
of  steamship  tickets. 

The  whole  responsibility  for  honest  dealing  under  great 
temptation  is  placed  on  the  immigrant  banker.  That  he  does 
not  yield  more  frequently  is  perhaps  the  surprising  thing.  All 
the  reasons  which  can  be  offered  for  the  careful  protection  of 
the  deposits  in  savings  banks  apply  with  special  force  to  the 
institutions  we  are  now  considering.  Massachusetts  led  in  the 
regulation  of  these  immigrant  banks.  She  should  have  consid- 
ered that  first  simple  regulation,  which  she  enacted  in  1905,  a 
preparation  for  better  standards;  and  yet,  although  she  has 
made  annual  amendments,  the  standard  is  practically  no  higher. 
Requiring  larger  bonds  and  regulating  the  investment  of  de- 
posits might  force  a  few  to  take  down  the  bank  sign,  but 
higher  standards  would  leave  many  of  the  immigrant  bankers 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  189 

in  business,  and  would  at  the  same  time  give  greater  protection 
to  those  with  whom  they  deal. 

In  order  to  give  greater  protection  for  immigrant  savings, 
the  following  modifications  of  the  present  law  are  considered 
necessary :  — 

1 .  It  should  be  made  to  include  all  those  who  do  a  foreign  ex- 
change business  and  those  who  receive  money  for  safe-keeping, 
with  certain  exceptions,  such  as  incorporated  banks,  trust  com- 
panies, etc. 

2.  Investments  of  deposits  should  be  regulated. 

3.  The  minimum  penalty  of  the  bond  should  be  $10,000. 

4.  The  Commissioner  of  Banking,  as  well  as  the  local  police, 
should  be  charged  with  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  and  the 
commissioner  or  his  deputy  should  be  given  authority  to  ex- 
amine the  books  of  all  the  unlicensed  agencies  that  are  sus- 
pected of  violating  the  law. 

5.  The  Commissioner  of  Banking  should  be  given  the  right 
to  ask  for  an  injunction  and  that  a  receiver  be  appointed  for  an 
unlicensed  agency  found  to  be  doing  a  banking  business. 

6.  Money  which  is  received  for  transmission  should  be  for- 
warded within  five  days  after  it  is  accepted. 

7.  In  case  of  action  for  failure  to  forward  money  left  for 
transmission,  the  burden  of  proof  to  show  that  the  money  was 
sent  should  rest  on  the  licensee. 

Section  3.    Notaries  Public. 

In  foreign  countries  the  notary  public  is  trained  for  judicial 
service,  and  the  title  is  a  guarantee  of  learning  and  authority. 
In  the  United  States  he  usually  performs  merely  clerical  serv- 
ice, and  is  never  regarded  as  a  legal  adviser.  In  Massachu- 
setts he  is  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  holds  office  for  seven 
years.1  A  notary  public  must  be  a  voter,  and  his  petition  for 
appointment  must  be  signed  by  "at  least  five  well-known  per- 
sons, of  whom  one  must  be  a  member  of  the  bar,  one  an  execu- 
tive officer  of  a  city  or  town,  and  one  a  justice  of  some  court  of 
record."  These  must  certify  that  they  are  personally  ac- 
quainted with  the  applicant  and  "consider  him  a  man  of  high 
standing  and  character."  2     No  question  is  raised  as  to  qualifi- 

1  Amendment  IV,  to  Massachusetts  Constitution. 

2  See  Petition  for  Appointment  to  the  Office  of  Notary  Public. 


190  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

cations  for  the  office,  and  in  practice  men  regard  very  lightly 
the  signing  of  a  paper  of  this  sort,  as  it  is  considered  of 
little  importance.  As  the  Governor  has  no  means  of  investigat- 
ing the  character  or  qualifications  of  the  applicant,  petitions  if 
properly  signed  are  usually  granted  as  a  matter  of  course.  The 
title  of  notary  public  in  Massachusetts  is  therefore  in  no  sense 
a  guarantee  of  either  learning  or  honesty. 

The  shrewd  and  unscrupulous  in  the  foreign  colony  are  quick 
to  take  advantage  of  this  great  difference  in  the  standing  of 
the  notary  here  and  abroad.  The  immigrant  requires  the  serv- 
ices of  a  notary  most  often  in  the  renunciation  of  allegiance 
to  his  own  country,  in  securing  exemption  from  military  service, 
in  connection  with  the  acknowledgment  of  deeds  or  other 
papers  which  are  to  be  sent  to  Europe  and  in  making  the 
affidavits  which  must  be  sent  to  the  relatives  who  are  coming 
to  join  him  in  America.  To  execute  these  papers  properly  a 
knowledge  of  Italian,  Austrian,  Russian  or  other  law  and  of  the 
United  States  immigration  law  is  necessary.  The  immigrant  be- 
lieves that  the  notary  in  Massachusetts  possesses  this  knowledge 
because  underneath  the  English  words  "Notary  Public"  on  his 
sign  is  the  very  title  which,  at  home,  has  meant  an  officer  who  is 
recognized  as  more  "learned  in  the  law"  than  the  lawyer.  The 
result  is  that  much  time  and  money  are  lost  on  the  part  of 
immigrants  because  of  the  absolute  incompetence  of  notaries 
who  undertake  to  perform  work  of  which  they  have  not  the 
slightest  knowledge. 

Many  of  these  notaries  advertise  to  do  much  more  than  take 
acknowledgments  of  deeds  and  other  instruments,  although 
they  usually  lack  the  training  even  for  the  latter  service.  A 
Polish  notary  advertises  in  a  Boston  paper  as  follows:  "  I  make 
legal  documents  approved  by  consuls;  am  interpreter  in  court 
in  the  Polish  and  Russian  languages;  attend  to  cases  of  acci- 
dents, loss  of  life  and  recover  on  all  old  cases.  Whoever  is 
arrested  I  try  to  release  him.  I  do  not  serve  capitalists,  only 
working  people.  Whoever  is  in  misfortune  let  him  come  to  me. 
Advice  given  free." 

It  would  not  be  surprising  if  the  newly  arrived  immigrant, 
on  reading  such  a  statement,  should  conclude  that  this  notary 
is  an  officer  appointed  by  the  State  to  look  after  the  interests 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  191 

of  the  Polish  and  Russian  working  men  in  Boston.  Some  who 
advertise  in  this  way  do  not  hold  commissions  even  as  notaries.1 
The  investigators  for  the  commission  found  some  of  these 
notaries  willing  to  prepare  papers  and  witness  the  signatures  of 
persons  who  did  not  appear  before  them.  Others  accepted  the 
money  for  doing  this,  and  then  ignored  written  requests  for 
papers  and  signatures  which  had  been  promised.  But  in 
general,  the  most  serious  evil  is  the  ignorance  and  incompetence 
of  the  men  whom  the  State  authorizes  to  do  this  work.  Im- 
properly prepared  papers  of  all  sorts  are  constantly  presented 
at  the  offices  of  foreign  consuls,  and  complaints  of  both  dis- 
honesty and  incompetence  were  received  by  the  commission. 

By  an  investigation  of  the  practices  of  these  notaries,  evi- 
dence could  be  secured  on  which  the  certificates  of  many  might 
be  revoked.  Such  an  investigation  could  and  should  be  made 
by  the  Board  of  Immigration,  the  creation  of  which  is  recom- 
mended in  chapter  XIII  of  this  report.  But  unless  provision  is 
made  for  more  safeguards  in  the  determination  of  the  qualifi- 
cations of  new  applicants  this  would  accomplish  very  little. 
The  commission  is  glad  to  record  that  His  Excellency  Gov- 
ernor Walsh  has  taken  cognizance  of  the  fact  that  the  lack  of 
care  in  the  appointment  of  notaries  public  has  led  to  many 
abuses  in  the  past,  and  has  declared  that  in  the  future  all 
petitioners  for  appointment  to  that  office,  who  are  not  attorneys- 
at-law,  shall  be  required  to  appear  before  the  Governor  or  a 
committee  of  the  Council  to  be  tested  as  to  their  fitness  for 
appointment.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  notary  should  not 
undergo  such  an  examination  demonstrating  his  fitness  for  the 
office.  With  the  co-operation  of  the  consuls,  special  tests  could 
be  given  for  those  who  expect  to  draw  documents  for  use  in  for- 
eign countries,  and  real  competence  could  thus  be  insured.  If 
an  eligible  list  were  prepared  by  the  Civil  Service  Commission, 
the  Governor  would  then  have  the  information  which  he  needs 
to  make  proper  appointments.  The  commission  therefore  rec- 
ommends that  the  Civil  Service  Commission  be  authorized  to 
prepare  upon  request  by  the  Governor  such  a  list,  from  which 
the  Governor  may  appoint  notaries  public.2 

1  See  Appendix  N. 

2  For  the  powers  and  status  of  justices  of  the  peace,  see  p.  107,  note. 


192  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  IMMIGRANT  AND  IMPROVED  MEDICAL   STANDARDS. 

Many  requests  have  come  to  the  commission  from  leaders  of 
the  foreign  colonies,  asking  that  some  recommendation  should 
be  made  in  regard  to  the  better  regulation  of  the  practice  of 
medicine.  The  immigrant,  they  have  urged,  is  deceived  by 
the  quack  doctor,  who  is  often  a  skilful  advertiser  of  free  ex- 
aminations and  impossible  "cures,"  and  by  the  medical  institutes 
and  dispensaries  whose  signs  in  four  or  five  languages  announce 
that  advice  is  free.  In  these  dispensaries  the  immigrant  is  often 
told,  without  examination,  that  the  purchase  of  a  SI  bottle  of 
pink  or  brown  medicine  is  absolutely  necessary  for  relief  from  a 
disease  which  he  may  or  may  not  have.  The  injury  to  the 
immigrant's  health,  if  he  submits  to  treatment  by  these  practi- 
tioners, is  likely  to  be  much  more  serious  than  his  money 
losses,  as  the  medicine  given  is  not  always  harmless  and,  if  he 
is  really  sick,  obtaining  good  medical  counsel  is  dangerously 
delayed. 

The  evil  effects  of  the  failure  to  raise  the  requirements  for 
medical  practice  in  Massachusetts  are  not  confined,  however, 
to  the  immigrant  population,  although  here,  as  in  so  many 
cases,  the  general  ignorance  of  the  immigrant  makes  him  the 
easiest  victim. 

In  Massachusetts,  according  to  the  report  of  the  Board  of 
Registration  in  Medicine,  "  it  is  possible  ...  for  persons  with 
little  real  medical  knowledge,  who  have  not  pursued  even  a 
partial  course  of  study  in  a  reputable  medical  school,  who  have 
no  clinical  instruction,  who  know  nothing  of  laboratory  demon- 
strations, and  who  have  had  no  practical  hospital  experience, 
to  succeed  in  fulfilling  the  requirements  of  the  registration  law 
by  the  aid  of  careful  coaching  and  by  memorizing  medical 
compends.  In  the  other  States,  with  only  two  or  three  ex- 
ceptions, board  examinations  are  open  only  to  graduates  of 
reputable  schools  of  medicine."  *     The  European  who   is   ac- 

1  Nineteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Registration  in  Medicine  (1912),  pp. 
8,9. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  193 

customed  to  a  rigid  enforcement  of  much  higher  standards 
ought,  therefore,  to  be  warned  on  his  arrival  that  the  words 
"doctor"  and  "professor"  are  in  no  sense  a  guarantee  of  train- 
ing or  ability  in  Massachusetts.  That  this  standard  of  medical 
registration  will  be  much  longer  accepted  seems  incredible. 
Certainly  as  long  as  it  is,  the  immigrant  has  no  sources  of  infor- 
mation which  will  enable  him  to  distinguish  the  trained  from 
the  untrained  and  often  unscrupulous  doctor. 

The  Practice  of  Midwifery. 

While  the  fact  that  the  poorly  trained  doctor  is  allowed  to 
practice  affects  much  more  than  the  immigrant  population,  the 
midwife  is  distinctly  an  immigrant  problem.  Her  position  in 
Massachusetts  furnishes  an  example  of  the  curious  inconsis- 
tencies which  creep  into  our  law.  The  medical  registration  act 
does  not  exempt  midwives,1  and  as  the  practice  of  midwifery 
has  been  held  to  be  a  branch  of  medicine,2  and  as  she  is  not  a 
medical  practitioner  under  the  law  she  cannot  legally  practice. 
And  yet  she  is  required  to  register  all  the  births  she  attends,  and 
is  paid  a  fee  for  doing  this.3 

The  responsibility  for  the  enforcement  of  the  law  rests  upon 
the  police.  Although  there  have  been  occasional  prosecutions 
and  convictions,  a  consistent  and  determined  effort  to  prevent 
the  practice  of  midwifery  has  not  been  made  in  any  city  or 
town  in  the  State.  Nor,  indeed,  is  this  recommended  by  those 
who  are  most  opposed  to  any  amendment  of  the  present  law 
prohibiting  the  practice  of  midwifery.  As  a  result  of  this 
curious  contradiction  in  the  law  the  standing  of  the  midwives 
differs  in  the  local  communities.  In  Boston  the  midwife  does 
not  herself  register  the  births  she  attends,  but  arrangement  is 
made  for  reporting  the  cases  through  a  doctor,  who  in  many 
cases  is  not  present  at  the  birth.  But  everywhere  the  abso- 
lutely untrained  midwife  is  on  exactly  the  same  footing  as 
graduates  of  a  reputable  school  of  midwifery. 

The  women  who  depend  upon  the  midwife  are  usually 
Italian,  Polish,  Lithuanian,  Scandinavian,  Portuguese,  Syrian  or 
Greek.      There   are   many   reasons   why   they   prefer   her   to   a 

1  Revised  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  oh.  76,  sec.  3. 

*  Commonwealth  v.  Porn,  195  Mass.  443;  19G  Mass.  326. 

1  Revised  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  ch.  29,  sec.  3. 


194  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

doctor.  In  the  first  place,  most  of  those  who,  when  they  lived 
in  Europe,  were  in  the  habit  of  relying,  at  this  time,  upon  the 
assistance  of  any  one  except  the  husband  or  a  friend,  were 
accustomed  to  trained  and  licensed  midwives;  they  object  to 
the  man  doctor,  and  the  woman  doctor  is  little  known  in  the 
immigrant  neighborhood.  In  the  second  place,  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  the  midwife  usually  serves  as  doctor,  nurse  and 
family  counsellor,  and,  to  the  worried  mother,  the  preparing 
of  food  and  caring  for  the  children  and  for  her  husband  seem 
as  important  as  more  skilled  treatment  for  herself  and  the  last 
baby. 

An  investigation  of  the  practice  of  midwifery  made  in  1909 
showed  104  midwives  practicing  in  the  following  cities:  Boston, 
36;  Brockton,  3;  Cambridge,  13;  Chelsea,  3;  Brookline,  1;  Chico- 
pee,  2;  Fall  River,  13;  Holyoke,  5;  Lynn,  3;  New  Bedford,  12; 
Springfield,  8;  and  Quincy,  5.  On  the  basis  of  these  figures  the 
number  practicing  in  the  State  as  a  whole  was  estimated  at  150; 
and  the  conclusion  drawn  was  that  the  midwife  did  not  present  at 
all  the  problem  in  Massachusetts  that  she  did  in  New  York, 
Illinois  and  other  States  with  large  foreign  populations.1 
These  figures  as  a  matter  of  fact  give  no  adequate  idea  of  the 
numbers  practicing  at  present.  In  New  Bedford  34  midwives 
reported  births  in  1912,  as  compared  with  the  12  found  in  the 
investigation  made  in  1909.  How  many  were  practicing  and  not 
reporting  births  cannot  be  said.  In  Fall  River,  according  to  the 
District  Nursing  Association,  54  are  known  to  be  attending 
births,  and  others  have  been  reported  to  the  association,  but  have 
not  been  investigated.  In  1909  only  13  were  found.  At  the 
hearing  that  this  commission  held  in  Holyoke,  one  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  board  of  health  estimated  the  number  practicing  in 
that  city  at  about  40.  While  this  may  be  an  exaggeration,  there 
are  undoubtedly  a  great  many  more  than  the  5  reported  in  1909. 
The  midwife's  patients  are  principally  the  women  from 
Southern  and  Eastern  Europe,  and  as  this  immigration  is  more 
recent  in  Massachusetts  than  in  New  York  or  Illinois,  the  problem 
has  developed  later. 

Many  of  the  midwives  practicing  in  the  State  were  trained 
in  some  of  the  best  midwifery  schools  of  Europe,  but  others 

1  Huntington,  Dr.  James  Lincoln,  "Midwives  in  Massachusetts,"  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical 
Journal,  Vol.  CLXVII,  No  16,  pp.  542-548. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  195 

are  illiterate,  untrained  and  dirty.  Unfortunately,  the  practice 
of  the  latter  is  in  many  cases  larger  than  that  of  the  former. 
The  effect  of  the  lack  of  supervision  and  of  the  resulting  com- 
petition from  the  untrained  is  that  "the  finely  trained  midwife 
who  comes  with  her  diploma  and  sterilizer  from  the  schools  of 
the  Old  World,  finding  no  use  for  either  of  these  articles,  for- 
gets that  she  ever  possessed  them,  and  becomes  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  an  untrained  midwife. "  1 

It  is  therefore  evident  that,  although  this  is  contrary  to  law,  an 
increasingly  large  number  of  immigrant  women  are  attended 
during  childbirth  by  midwives,  many  of  whom  are  untrained 
and  irresponsible.  This  often  means  preventable  blindness, 
through  failure  to  take  the  necessary  precautions  to  protect 
the  baby's  eyes  against  ophthalmia  neonatorum,2  a  higher  in- 
fant mortality  and  serious  physical  injury  to  the  mother. 

There  is  a  very  general  agreement  throughout  the  country 
that  the  midwife,  however  well  trained  and  supervised,  can 
never  furnish  the  best  standard  of  obstetrical  care.  This 
can  be  given  only  by  physicians  who  have  had  thorough  in- 
struction in  both  the  art  and  the  science  of  obstetrics.  There  is 
also  a  very  general  agreement  that  midwives,  because  they 
usually  undertake  to  handle  only  normal  cases,  are  not  re- 
sponsible for  as  many  deaths  in  childbirth  as  the  ignorant  and 
inexperienced  doctor  who  refuses  to  recognize  his  limitations.3 
Better  training  of  physicians  for  obstetrical  work  and  higher 
standards  for  admission  to  the  practice  of  medicine  are  therefore 
necessary.  On  the  next  question,  as  to  whether  what  is  ad- 
mittedly the  best  standard  for  obstetrical  care  is  to  be  secured 
most  quickly,  and  at  the  same  time  with  consideration  for  all 
classes  of  women,  by  ignoring,  by  regulating  or  by  abolishing 
the  midwife,  experts  differ.  At  present,  Massachusetts  makes 
the  practice  of  midwifery  illegal,  yet  in  the  administration  of 
the  law  tacitly  allows  it. 

The  physicians  who  are  doing  most  for  the  improvement  of 

1  Emmons,  Dr.  A.  B.,  and  Huntington,  Dr.  J.  L.,  "Has  the  trained  and  supervised  Midwife 
made  Good?"  Report  of  the  Second  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  Study  and 
Prevention  of  Infant  Mortality  (1911),  p.  206. 

*  Greene,  Henry  Copley,  Ophthalmia  Neonatorum  in  Ten  Massachusetts  Cities,  pp.  IS,  26,  27. 
Monograph  No.  1,  American  Association  for  the  Conservation  of  Vision. 

*  Williams,  Dr.  J.  Whittridge,  "The  Midwife  Problem  and  Medical  Education  in  the  United 
States."  Report  of  the  Second  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  Study  and  Pre- 
tention of  Infant  Mortality,  p.  183. 


196  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

obstetrical  practice  in  Massachusetts  are  opposed  to  licensing 
and  supervising  the  midwife.  They  urge  that  those  women 
who  will  not  and  should  not  go  to  a  free  dispensary  could,  for 
the  same  fee  that  is  now  paid  the  midwife,  be  cared  for  by  ob- 
stetrical dispensaries,  with  a  staff  of  paid  physicians.  But 
nowhere,  except  in  Boston,  is  any  attempt  being  made  to  work 
out  such  a  plan.  A  physician,  a  member  of  the  board  of  health  in 
one  of  the  cities  in  which  the  commission  held  a  public  hearing, 
described  his  board  as  using  a  method  of  regulating  midwives 
which  was  in  itself  illegal  and  which,  as  investigation  showed, 
never  had  been  followed.  Apparently  the  doctor  had  simply  sup- 
posed that  of  course  something  of  the  sort  was  being  done.  In 
another  city  a  board  of  health  doctor  was  so  little  interested  in 
public  health  problems  that  he  considered  the  midwife  only 
as  a  possible  competitor,  and  generously  said  that  he  was 
willing  "the  poor  things  should  make  a  little  something." 

Such  indifference  gives  little  encouragement  to  the  belief 
that  local  leadership  in  the  establishment  of  dispensary  serv- 
ice can  be  expected  in  the  near  future.  For  this  reason  many 
believe  that  Massachusetts  should  only  permit  a  midwife  to 
practice  legally  on  condition  of  annually  passing  in  English  or  in 
her  native  language  a  thorough  examination.  This  would  mean 
the  immediate  elimination  of  the  seriously  incompetent,  and 
as  the  general  standard  in  obstetrical  care  is  raised  and  dis- 
pensary service  developed  the  midwife  may  be  eventually 
eliminated.  The  large  and  rapidly  increasing  number  of 
women  who  use  the  midwife  makes  it  necessary  for  the  medical 
profession  and  the  State  to  face  this  problem  at  once  and  to 
decide  on  some  method  of  protecting  immigrant  women  from 
the  absolutely  untrained  and  irresponsible  practitioners. 


An  onventDated  toilet  opening  Into  a  kitchen,    (/■'run/  Aronorici,  Housing  Condition* 

in  Springfield.)- 


1914.] 


HOUSE  — No.  2300. 


197 


CHAPTER  X. 
DEPENDENCY  AMONG  IMMIGRANTS. 

Whether  or  not  the  newer  immigration  is  tending  to  increase 
the  already  large  class  of  persons  dependent  upon  public  or 
private  charity,  is  an  important  and  much-discussed  question. 
The  commission  did  not  make  any  original  investigation  along 
this  line,  as  facts  concerning  the  immigrant  as  a  dependent  in 
Massachusetts  are  available  from  several  sources. 

The  United  States  Immigration  Commission  made  a  study 
of  immigrants  as  charity  seekers,1  largely  on  the  basis  of  ma- 
terial gathered  from  the  charity  organization  societies  of  43  cit- 
ies throughout  the  United  States.  Five  of  these  cities  were  in 
Massachusetts,  —  Boston,  Lynn,  Maiden,  Springfield  and  Worces- 
ter. The  following  table  shows  that  with  the  exception  of 
Springfield  the  charity  organization  societies  were  assisting  a 
larger  number  of  foreign-born  than  of  native-born  persons,  but 
that  the  majority  of  the  foreigners  aided  belonged  to  the 
English-speaking  races:  — 


Table  20.  —  Number  of  Cases  assisted  by  Charity  Organization  Societies, 
December  1,  1908,  to  May  81,  1909,  in  Five  Cities  in  Massachusetts, 
by  General  Nativity  and  Race. 2 


Boston. 

Lynn. 

Maiden. 

Springfield. 

Worcester. 

Total. 

Total  cases, 

1,010 

394 

83 

197 

220 

1,904 

Native-born,    . 

390 

182 

36 

163 

99 

870 

Foreign-born,   . 

620 

212 

47 

34 

121 

1,034 

Race  of  foreign-born:  — 

Irish,         .... 

174 

76 

12 

8 

48 

318 

English  and  Scotch, 

71 

14 

2 

13 

8 

108 

Canadian  English,   . 

119 

42 

8 

- 

1 

170 

Canadian  French,    . 

7 

7 

- 

1 

15 

30 

Italian,                       .      *  . 

127 

10 

- 

4 

8 

149 

Jewish, 8 

23 

28 

13 

- 

1 

65 

Scandinavian, 

18 

0 

3 

2 

14 

43 

German,  . 

11 

4 

6 

6 

- 

27 

Polish,      . 

13 

4 

- 

- 

5 

22 

Armenian, 

1 

11 

- 

- 

4 

16 

Others, 

56 

10 

3 

— 

17 

86 

The  following  table,  compiled  from  the  annual  report  of  the 
State   Board   of   Charity,  shows   the  nativity  of   the   persons 

1  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  34. 

1  Compiled  from  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  34,  p.  6  ff. 
*  The  small  number  of  Jewish  cases  is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  Jewish  charitable  woietiei 
care  to  a  large  extent  for  persons  of  their  race. 


19S 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


who  received  public   relief  during  the   year   ended   March  31, 
1912: — 


Table  21.  —  Nativity  of  Persons  who  received  Public  Relief  in  Massa- 
chusetts during  the  Year  ended  March  81,  1912,  together  with  the  Per- 
cent Distribution  by  Nativity  of  the  Total  Population,  1910.1 


Peksons  keceiving  Public 
Relief. 


Number. 


Per  Cent 
of  Known 
Nativity. 


Total 

Population, 

1910. 

Per  Cent 

Distribution. 


Total, 

Native-born, 

Foreign-born, 

Nativity  unknown, 

Total    foreign-born    from    English-speaking 

countries. 
Ireland, 

Canada,    ........ 

England,  Scotland  and  Wales, 

Total  foreign-born  from  non-English  speak- 
ing countries. 
Italy, 

Russia, 

Scandinavia, 

Germany, 

Other  countries, 


72,700 

46,921 

22,143 

3,636 

18,162 

9,242 

6,206 

2,714 

3,981 

1,501 

1,260 

435 

380 

405 


100.0 
67.9 
32.1 

26.3 

13.4 

9.0 

3.9 

5.8 

2.2 

1.8 

.6 

.6 

.6 


100.0 
68.5 
31.5 

19.1 
6.6 
8.8 
3.7 

12.4 
2.5 
3.5 
1.5 
.9 
4.0 


From  this  table  it  appears  that  32.1  per  cent  of  the  persons 
supported  or  relieved  by  the  State  or  by  the  towns  during  the 
year  ending  March  31,  1912,  were  foreign-born.  Since  the 
foreign-born  constituted  31.5  per  cent  of  the  total  population, 
the  proportion  of  foreign-born  paupers  is  almost  equal  to  the 
proportion  of  foreign-born  in  the  population.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  foreign-born  from  non-English  speaking  countries 
formed  only  5.8  per  cent  of  the  persons  receiving  public  aid 
and  12.4  per  cent  of  the  total  population.  In  1904,  when  51 
per  cent  of  the  paupers  admitted  to  almshouses  in  Massachu- 
setts were  foreign-born,  only  8  per  cent  were  from  non-English 
speaking  countries. 

It,  therefore,  seems  fair  to  conclude  that  the  per  cent  of  the 


1  Compiled  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  State  Board  of  Charity  of  Massachusetts,  1912,  Pt. 
Ill,  pp.  116,  119,  and  from  U.  S.  Thirteenth  Census  (1910),  Abstract,  p.  204,  Table  14. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — Xo.  2300.  199 

foreign-born  persons  cared  for  by  the  State,  by  the  towns,  or  by 
private  agencies  in  institutions  or  in  their  homes  is  not  dispro- 
portionately large,  and  that  a  disproportionately  small  per  cent 
are  from  the  non-English  speaking  countries  of  the  newer  immi- 
gration, and  few  are  recently  arrived  immigrants.  The  United 
States  Immigration  Commission  concluded  that  throughout 
the  United  States  "pauperism  among  newly  admitted  immi- 
grants is  relatively  at  a  minimum,"  and  that  "the  recent  immi- 
grants, even  in  cities  in  times  of  relative  industrial  inactivity, 
do  not  seek  charitable  assistance  in  any  considerable  numbers/'1 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  present  immigra- 
tion law  absolutely  excludes  from  the  United  States  all  paupers 
and  persons  likely  to  become  a  public  charge,  as  well  as  all 
feeble-minded  and  insane  persons,2  while  immigrants  were  for- 
merly admitted  with  practically  none  of  the  present  precau- 
tions.3 As  the  Federal  Immigration  Commission  points  out 
in  regard  to  the  earlier  immigration,  "It  is  recorded  that  in 
some  cases  a  considerable  part  of  the  immigrants  arriving  on  a 
ship  would  be  so  destitute  of  means  of  support  that  it  was 
necessary  to  transport  them  immediately  to  almshouses."  4 

Even  more  important  in  accounting  for  the  comparatively 
few  dependents  among  recent  immigrants  is  the  fact  that  the 
majority  are  young  men  and  women  between  fifteen  and  forty- 
five  years  of  age.  Of  the  immigrants  admitted  to  the  United 
States  in  1911-1912,  only  14  per  cent  were  under  fifteen  years 
of  age  and  only  5  per  cent  forty-five  years  or  over.5  Of  the 
poor  persons  supported  or  relieved  in  Massachusetts  during 
the  same  year,  36  per  cent  were  children  under  fifteen,  and  28 
per  cent  were  forty-five  years  or  over.6  That  is,  a  large  per- 
centage of  the  newly  arrived  immigrants  belong  to  the  class  of 
men  and  women  in  the  prime  of  life,  comparatively  few  of 
whom,  in  any  nationality,  receive  charitable  assistance. 

1  Reports  of  the  U .  S .  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  1,  p.  36. 

1  The  following  are  excluded:  "All  idiots,  imbeciles,  feeble-minded  persons,  epileptics,  insane 
persons  and  persons  who  have  been  insane  within  five  years  previous;  persons  who  have  had 
two  or  more  attacks  of  insanity  at  any  time  previously;  paupers;  persons  likely  to  become  a 
public  charge;  professional  beggars;  persons  afflicted  with  tuberculosis  or  with  a  loathsome  or 
dangerous  contagious  disease;  persons  not  comprehended  within  any  of  the  foregoing  excluded 
classes  who  are  found  to  be  and  are  certified  by  the  examining  surgeon  as  being  mentally  or 
physically  defective,  such  mental  or  physical  defect  being  of  a  nature  which  may  affect  the 
ability  of  such  alien  to  earn  a  living."    Immigration  act  of  February  SO,  1907,  W 

3  See  ch.  I,  "History  of  Immigration  to  Massachusetts,"  pp.  27,  28. 

*  Reports  of  the  U.S.  Immigration  Commission,  Vol.  1,  p.  35. 

*  Annual  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  1912,  p.  74. 

*  Annual  Report  of  the  State  Board  of  Charity  of  Massachusetts,  Part  III,  1912,  p.  118. 


200  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

The  relatively  small  amount  of  dependency  among  immi- 
grants from  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe  is,  then,  at  least 
partly  explained  by  the  exclusion  of  paupers  and  those  handi- 
capped in  earning  a  livelihood  by  mental  or  physical  defects, 
and  by  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  these  immigrants  come 
to  this  country  as  young  men  and  women.  It  is  still  too  early 
to  judge  whether  these  people  of  the  newer  immigration  will 
prove  better  able  or  less  able  to  endure  the  strain  of  modern 
industry  and  of  life  in  crowded  and  insanitary  homes  than 
those  who  are  native-born  or  belong  to  the  older  immigration. 
But  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  unless  these  conditions 
are  improved  the  Southern  and  Eastern  Europeans  will  not 
make  so  good  a  showing  as  they  now  do,  after  the  effects  of 
overwork  and  insanitary  conditions  have  had  time  to  under- 
mine the  superior  health  of  the  country-bred  peasants. 

The  number  of  foreign-born  in  hospitals  for  the  insane  in 
Massachusetts  appears  to  be  considerably  larger  than  the  per 
cent  of  foreign-born  in  the  total  population  of  the  State.  The 
report  of  the  State  Board  of  Insanity  shows  that  the  foreign- 
born  constituted  44.4  per  cent  of  the  insane  admitted  to  insti- 
tutions in  Massachusetts  in  1912,1  an  increase  since  1903,  when 
the  Special  Report  of  the  United  States  Census  on  the  Insane 
and  Feeble-minded  showed  that  42  per  cent  of  the  insane  in 
hospitals  in  Massachusetts  were  foreign-born.  As  in  the  case 
of  those  receiving  public  relief,  however,  tables  giving  the 
country  of  birth  of  foreign-born  insane  persons,  or  of  inmates 
of  the  schools  for  the  feeble-minded,  show  that  a  comparatively 
small  number  were  born  in  non-English  speaking  countries.2 
Under  present  prohibitions  of  the  United  States  Immigration 
Law  there  should  be  no  recruiting  of  our  hospitals  for  the 
insane  or  of  our  schools  for  the  feeble-minded  from  the  recent 
immigration.  With  increased  medical  service  so  that  more 
careful  examination  of  those  seeking  admittance  could  be 
given,3  defectives  who  are  recent  immigrants  could  be  practi- 
cally eliminated. 

1  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Insanity,  1912,  p.  278. 

*  See  Appendix  J  for  tables  on  the  nativity  of  the  insane  in  institutions  in  Massachusetts,  and 
Appendix  K  for  tables  on  the  nativity  of  the  inmates  of  the  schools  for  the  feeble-minded. 

•  See  Sprague,  Dr.  E.  K.,  "Mental  Examination  of  Immigrants,"  Survey,  Vol.  31,  pp.  466-468. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  201 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  FOREIGN-LANGUAGE  PRESS  AND  ORGANIZATIONS  FOR 
SELF-HELP  AMONG  IMMIGRANTS. 

Section  1.    The  Foreign-language  Press. 

The  influence  of  the  foreign-language  newspapers  must  be 
considered  in  any  program  which  requires  the  co-operation  of 
the  immigrant  population.  The  commission  has  found  58  such 
papers  published  in  the  following  languages  in  Massachusetts: 
Albanian,  Arabian,  Armenian,  Jewish,  French,  German,  Greek, 
Italian,  Lettish,  Lithuanian,  Polish,  Portuguese,  Swedish, 
Syrian  and  Yiddish.  Six  of  these  are  dailies.  In  addition, 
many  foreign-language  papers  published  in  other  States  have 
a  wide  circulation  in  Massachusetts.  Although  these  papers 
find  it  very  difficult  to  hold  the  second  generation  as  readers, 
they  are  the  only  newspapers  read  by  a  large  per  cent  of  the 
adult  immigrant  population. 

The  explanation  of  this  is  simple.  In  addition  to  the  lan- 
guage difficulties,  which  make  even  those  who  have  learned 
some  English  prefer  their  native  language,  these  papers  contain 
much  of  peculiar  interest  to  the  immigrants.  There  are  ac- 
counts of  what  is  happening  in  Galicia,  Finland,  Portugal  or 
Greece,  and  of  what  the  Italians,  Poles,  Syrians  or  Lithuanians 
in  other  parts  of  the  United  States  are  doing;  and  all  the 
events  of  the  day  are  interpreted  in  terms  of  the  immigrant's 
own  experience  and  special  interests. 

The  policy  and  character  of  these  papers  differ  widely.  They 
represent  the  various  religious  and  political  factions  of  Europe 
as  well  as  of  the  United  States.  All  of  them  are,  as  is  to  be 
expected,  strongly  "national"  in  the  advocacy  of  the  cause  of 
their  own  people  in  the  struggles  of  rival  European  races; 
Russian,  Austrian  or  Hungarian  officials  often  complain  that 
the  Polish,  Slovak  or  Lithuanian  movement  at  home  is  kept 
alive  by  the  American  press. 

Many  of  these  papers  are  small  and  have  not  the  means  to 
purchase  real  news  service.  While  some  of  the  editors  are 
public-spirited  men  of  wide  culture,  others  have  practically  no 


202  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

knowledge  of  American  life  and  institutions.  The  majority  are 
loyal  Americans;  the  patriotism  of  some  of  them,  however,  like 
that  of  many  native  American  editors,  does  not  always  dictate 
the  choice  of  the  public  good  when  this  conflicts  with  private 
gain. 

But  whatever  their  faults  or  limitations,  the  foreign-language 
papers  cannot  be  ignored  as  influential  factors  in  the  com- 
munity life.  In  all  educational  campaigns  for  the  protection  of 
public  health,  for  the  improvement  of  social,  industrial  and 
political  conditions,  in  advertising  schools,  libraries  and  lec- 
tures their  support  is  needed  and  it  is  believed  can  be  secured. 
The  commission  has  found  these  papers  ready  to  co-operate  in 
furthering  its  investigations  and  in  giving  publicity  to  its 
hearings. 

The  American  public,  as  well  as  the  editors  themselves, 
should  realize  that  the  foreign-language  papers  have  a  rare 
opportunity  to  serve  the  interests  of  their  own  people  and  of 
their  adopted  country. 

Section  2.    Organizations  among  Immigrants  for  Self-help. 

The  societies  which  are  organized  and  maintained  by  the 
members  of  the  different  nationalities,  and  which  flourish  in 
some  form  in  every  community  where  there  are  large  groups  of 
immigrants,  are  a  factor  in  helping  the  immigrant  through  the 
trials  of  immigration  and  the  difficulties  of  adjustment  to  new 
conditions.  The  chief  reason  among  all  nationalities  for  the 
formation  of  these  societies  is  insurance  against  sickness  and 
death,  but  most  of  them  combine  with  this  some  other  objects.1 
Nearly  all  of  them  outline  an  educational  and  civic  program. 
They  may  lack  the  means  to  carry  this  out,  yet  the  statement 
of  these  purposes  has  an  influence  upon  the  members.  Co- 
operation with  these  organizations  on  the  part  of  American 
agencies  would  help  the  immigrant  in  solving  his  own  prob- 
lems, and  might  mean  the  carrying  out  of  these  larger  ideals. 
The  organizations  of  the  Swedes,  French-Canadians  and  Ger- 
mans are  familiar  to  Americans,  but  very  few  realize  the  or- 
ganized efforts  which  those  who  come  from  Southern  and 
Eastern  Europe  are  making  in  their  own  behalf. 

1  See  ch.  VII,  p.  159,  for  an  account  of  naturalization  societies. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  203 

A  detailed  description  of  the  latter  cannot  be  given,  but 
reference  is  made  to  a  few  of  the  typical  ones  among  the  na- 
tionalities which  belong  to  what  is  called  the  new  immigration. 

There  are  two  organizations  among  the  Greeks  in  every  city 
or  town  in  this  country  where  there  is  a  colony  of  this  nation- 
ality. The  first  to  appear  is  usually  the  Greek  community, 
having  as  its  main  purpose  the  building  and  maintenance  of  a 
Greek  church,  but  being  also  a  fraternal  organization.  In 
Massachusetts  there  are  nine  organized  Greek  communities; 
six  estimate  their  membership  at  over  1,000,  one  at  10,000. 
The  other  three  have  between  600  and  900  members. 

Since  1912  a  bread  tax  of  1  cent  for  each  loaf  of  bread  used 
has  been  levied  on  their  members  by  the  Greek  communities  of 
Massachusetts.  This  bread  tax,  collected  each  Sunday,  is  used 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  church  and  of  the  school,  if  there  is 
one. 

The  Pan-Hellenic  Union  is  a  national  organization  with  head- 
quarters in  Boston.  In  addition  to  the  payment  of  sick  and 
death  benefits  the  Union  has  outlined  a  comprehensive  pro- 
gram for  bettering  the  conditions  of  Greeks  in  America  by 
creating  a  spirit  of  self-help,  by  protecting  the  Greek  immi- 
grants and  laborers,  by  aiding  in  the  furtherance  of  the  political 
ambitions  of  their  much-loved  mother  countrv  and,  at  the 
same  time,  by  instilling  in  the  Greeks  of  the  United  States 
veneration  and  affection  for  the  laws  and  the  institutions  of 
America.  The  Pan-Hellenic  Union  has  twenty  branches  in 
Massachusetts,  one  with  1,000  members,  three  with  500  or 
over,  two  with  200  and  fourteen  with  less  than  100. 

There  are  several  local  societies  in  the  large  Greek  com- 
munities whose  members  are  from  the  same  towns  in  Greece, 
and  whose  object  is  to  help  each  other  in  time  of  need  and  to 
do  something  for  their  town  or  city  in  the  home  land.  These 
societies,  however,  are  rapidly  being  absorbed  into  the  Pan- 
Hellenic  Union. 

Among  the  Italians  the  societies  are  not  united,  for  what- 
ever the  object  of  a  society,  its  membership  is  usually  drawn 
from  those  who  come  from  one  town  or  province  in  Italy.  The 
result  is  a  great  number  of  associations.  In  Springfield,  for 
example,  where  the  Italian  population,  according  to  the  census 


204  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

for  1910,  is  2,915,  there  are  twelve  societies.  One  society  has 
recently  celebrated  its  twenty-fifth  anniversary  with  great 
enthusiasm.  It  reports  400  members,  a  fund  of  $3,500  and  a 
record  of  having  paid  out,  in  sick  benefits  and  to  destitute 
families,  about  $15,000.  It  is  described  in  its  report  as  a  so- 
ciety that  "unites  us  and  gives  us  strength,  and  will  make  us 
more  acceptable  in  the  eyes  of  the  American  people;  that  will 
guide  us  in  all  vicissitudes  and  trouble  of  life;  that  will  give 
us  work  when  we  are  idle;  that  will  succor  us  with  money 
when  we  are  sick;  that  will  help  our  families  and  accompany  us 
with  dignified  ceremony  when  we  die." 

The  many  Italian  mutual  benefit  societies  in  Boston  are  of 
three  slightly  different  types:  first,  those  which  require  member- 
ship in  the  Catholic  church  and  are  usually  named  for  the  patron 
saint  of  the  vicinity  from  which  the  group  comes;  second,  those 
which  do  not  require  membership  in  the  Catholic  church  and 
are  rather  political  in  their  objects;  and  third,  those  which 
have  a  certain  patriotic  side  and  whose  members  have  been 
soldiers  in  Italy.  All  three  types  have  essentially  the  same 
benefit  features. 

The  Italian  Immigrant  Aid  Society  hardly  belongs  to  this 
part  of  the  discussion,  as  it  has  had  much  American  as- 
sistance. Still,  since  it  is  subsidized  by  the  Italian  government, 
it  is  an  Italian  rather  than  an  American  organization.  Its 
objects  are  to  protect  the  Italian  against  exploitation 1  and  to 
provide  for  the  return  to  Italy  of  those  who  are  sick  or  dis- 
couraged. Its  representatives  are  at  the  docks  to  assist  those 
who  are  entering  or  leaving  the  country. 

Among  the  Jews  in  addition  to  the  large  philanthropic  societies 
which  are  formed  by  the  wealthier  to  assist  in  the  Americanization 
of  the  newcomers  and  to  care  for  the  poor  of  their  faith,  there 
are  many  smaller  societies  which  are  organized  and  supported 
principally  by  the  more  recently  arrived  Russian,  Polish  and 
Roumanian  Jews.  The  loan  societies  which  have  been  formed 
in  several  cities  in  Massachusetts  seem  the  most  successful  of 
these  charities.  They  are  supported  by  subscription,  and  they 
loan,  upon  the  indorsement  of  a  member,  small  sums  without 
interest.    The  Hebrew  Immigrant  Aid  Society,  to   whose   work 

i  See  ch.  VIII,  sec.  1,  "Arrival  and  Transit." 


a  Greek  coffee  house  —  the  >«»<-ial  center  of  the  colony. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  205 

on  the  docks  reference  has  already  been  made,  is  largely  sup- 
ported by  Russian  Jews.  As  among  the  other  immigrants  so 
among  the  Jews  mutual  benefit  associations  have  been  formed; 
some  of  these  have  branches  throughout  New  England.  The 
statement  of  the  objects  of  these  societies  usually  covers  much 
civic  and  educational  work,  but  most  of  them  have  as  yet  done 
very  little  along  these  lines. 

The  Lithuanians  have  about  sixty  mutual  benefit  societies  in 
Massachusetts  and  about  thirty  educational  societies  ar- 
ranging lectures  and  classes.  Many  of  these  are  very  closely 
connected  with  the  church.  Distinctive  features  of  the  Lithua- 
nian societies  of  Massachusetts  are  their  "national  homes," 
or  club  houses,  where  their  clubs  can  meet,  and  where  a  library 
of  Lithuanian  books  and  papers  is  maintained.  There  are 
homes  of  this  kind  in  three  cities,  and  three  more  are  being 
built.  The  Lithuanian  Benevolent  Society,  which  was  or- 
ganized to  build  the  home  in  Boston,  is  a  well-established 
mutual  benefit  society  with  350  members.  The  Lithuanian 
Roman  Catholic  Alliance  has  17  groups  in  the  different  in- 
dustrial centers  in  Massachusetts,  some  of  the  groups  having 
as  many  as  160  members. 

Among  Massachusetts  Poles  there  are  many  branches  of  the 
Polish  National  Alliance.  This  is  one  of  the  largest  single  so- 
cieties among  the  Slavic  people  in  the  United  States.  While 
it  is  primarily  a  mutual  benefit  society,  it  is  much  more  than 
that,  for  it  has  special  committees  for  education,  agriculture, 
industry,  charity  and  recreation.  The  Polish  Industrial  Asso- 
ciation is  associated  with  another  large  national  organization,  — 
the  Polish  Catholic  Alliance.  A  Polish  immigration  society 
has  recently  been  organized  which  maintains  a  temporary  lodg- 
ing house  where  Poles  who  arrive  in  Boston  and  are  unable  to 
proceed  at  once  to  their  destination  may  stay.  It  also  has  a 
representative  to  meet  the  boats  in  order  to  protect  and  help 
the  Polish  newcomer.  The  Polish  Young  Men's  Alliance  is  a 
national  organization  with  several  branches  in  Massachusetts; 
each  local  branch  has  a  library  and  a  reading  room  and  holds 
evening  classes  in  English  and  civics  and  in  gymnastics.  The 
mutual  benefit  features  are  the  best-developed  part  of  the 
work. 


206  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

The  Syrian  societies  are  at  present  at  a  very  early  stage  of 
the  development  of  their  organizations.  In  Boston,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Syrian  Orthodox  Church,  there  are  two  so- 
cieties, —  St.  John  of  Damascus,  which  supports  the  church, 
and  the  United  Greek  Orthodox  Society,  which  raises  money 
for  the  school  in  connection  with  the  church.  This  last-named 
society  is  managed  by  a  group  of  men  who  represent  the  four  socie- 
ties of  Damascus,  three  active  members  from  each  society.  There 
are  also  organizations  in  connection  with  the  Syrian  Roman 
Catholic  churches.  The  usual  form  of  organization  among  the 
Syrians,  however,  is  to  have  13  active  members,  including  the 
officers,  who  really  constitute  the  society,  whatever  the  other 
membership  may  be.  One  such  society  was  founded,  in  the 
words  of  one  of  its  members,  "to  praise  the  name  of  the 
Syrians."  The  plan  is  to  have  those  who  have  been  here  some 
time  assist  the  recent  arrivals  by  lectures  and  informal  talks, 
and  so  prevent  the  mistakes  and  failures  which  might  bring  the 
Syrian  into  disrepute. 

The  most  interesting  organizations,  however,  found  among 
the  foreign-speaking  people  in  Massachusetts  are  the  co-opera- 
tive societies,  usually  having  stores  in  which  the  profits  are 
divided  among  the  members  by  the  giving  of  interest  on  shares 
or  dividends  on  purchases.  This  form  of  society  lends  itself  ad- 
mirably to  the  uses  of  the  immigrant. 

Professor  Ford,  in  his  book  Co-operation  in  New  England, 
has  given  a  detailed  description  of  these  organizations.  Ac- 
cording to  this  study  there  are  thirty-one  distributive  co- 
operative associations  of  non-English  speaking  urban  consumers 
in  Massachusetts,  of  which  seven  are  Lithuanian,  six  Finnish, 
five  Italian,  three  Polish,  two  each  French,  German,  Hebrew 
and  Swedish,  one  Belgian  and  one  Swedish-Finnish.1  Of  these 
the  Finnish  stores,  as  a  whole,  show  the  greatest  success.  The 
first  one  was  established  twelve  years  ago;  at  present  there  are 
six.  Of  these  the  Kaleva  Co-operative  Association  of  Maynard 
deserves  especial  mention  because  it  is  largely  responsible  for  a 
movement  to  federate  the  Finnish  co-operative  societies  in  New 
England.    According  to  Mr.  Ford,  "It  was  founded  in  1907  by 

1  Ford,  James,  Co-operation  in  New  England    (Russell   Sage  Foundation  Publication,  N.  Y. 
1913),  Table  II. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  207 

Finnish  mill  hands  of  that  town,  and  now  has  over  300  mem- 
bers, only  one  of  whom  is  not  a  Finn.  The  capital  stock  of 
82,900  is  in  $5  shares.  The  building  in  which  the  store  is 
situated  cost  $16,000,  and  $2,300  is  received  in  rents.  .  .  .  The 
store  is  exceptionally  clean,  large  and  attractive,  the  manage- 
ment experienced  and  enterprising,  and  the  members  interested 
and  loyal.  .  .  .  The  Kaleva  Association  is  in  touch  with  over 
fifteen  other  co-operative  stores  in  this  country,  a  record  which 
is  unique.  .  .  .  Finnish  working  men  have  thus  reached  a  point 
in  co-operation  beyond  that  attained  by  any  other  working 
man's  association  in  New  England."  1 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  members  of  many  of  these 
societies  come  from  countries  in  which,  because  of  the  fear  on 
the  part  of  the  dominant  race  of  a  revolutionary  uprising,  they 
have  been  practically  prohibited  from  engaging  in  any  form 
of  organized  activity,  the  success  of  these  attempts  in  America 
indicates  an  initiative  and  an  appreciation  of  the  value  of  asso- 
ciation for  a  common  good  which  are  encouraging. 

1  Ford,  James,  Co-operation  in  New  England,  pp.  43-45. 


208  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

PRIVATE  AGENCIES  AND  THE  IMMIGRANT. 

.  In  the  foregoing  sections  of  this  report  it  has  been  shown  that 
more  and  better  educational  facilities,  a  comprehensive  plan  of 
distribution,  State  provision  for  protection  against  exploitation, 
the  dissemination  of  information  and  a  general  recognition, 
on  the  part  of  the  public  agencies,  of  the  difficulties  which  the 
foreigner  meets  here  in  America  are  necessary  if  the  foreigner 
is  to  be  adjusted  to  his  American  environment  with  the  least 
possible  loss  to  himself  and  to  the  community.  Some  mention 
should  be  made  in  this  connection  of  the  private  agencies  which 
will  always  be  needed  to  supplement  the  activities  of  the  State, 
if,  to  use  the  language  of  the  resolution  creating  this  commis- 
sion, "the  immigrant  is  to  be  brought  into  sympathetic  rela- 
tions with  American  institutions  and  customs."  1 

The  pioneers  in  this  work  have  been  the  social  settlements. 
They  have  endeavored  to  provide  social  and  educational  op- 
portunities and  a  meeting  place  for  the  American  and  the 
foreign-born,  where  each  might  learn  to  know  and  understand 
the  other.  With  the  sympathy  which  comes  from  daily  contact, 
the  settlements  have  interpreted  the  life  and  needs  of  these 
newcomers  to  the  larger  American  public. 

Other  agencies  have  more  recently  entered  the  field,  with 
different  avenues  of  approach  and  different  programs.  The 
North  American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants  was  organized  in 
1908  to  protect  the  immigrant  from  exploitation  after  he  leaves 
federal  control;  to  co-operate  with  the  public  schools  in  an 
extensive  educational  program  designed  to  promote  assimila- 
tion by  special  classes  in  naturalization  and  by  lectures  in  the 
foreign  languages  on  civic  subjects,  as  well  as  by  instruction  in 
English;  and  to  counteract  the  teaching  of  socialists  or  other 
radicals.  It  also  aims  to  act  as  a  clearing  house  for  all  agencies 
which  are  assisting  the  immigrants.  Its  last  annual  report 
shows  committees  or  members  in  48  different  cities  of  the 
United  States;   24  of  these  are  in  Massachusetts. 

1  The  work  done  by  private  agencies  in  meeting  the  immigrants  at  the  docks  and  railway 
stations  is  discussed  in  ch.  VIII,  sec.  1. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  209 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  in  the  recently 
created  immigration  and  industrial  department  of  its  work,  is 
adjusting  its  organization  to  the  needs  of  the  group  which  it 
has  never  before  served.  Classes  in  English  and  in  citizenship 
are  being  formed,  and  an  adaptation  of  the  social  and  recrea- 
tional program  of  the  association  to  the  needs  of  foreign  men 
is  being  made.  This  department  is  especially  well  organized  in 
Massachusetts,  and  is  reaching  a  very  large  number  of  young 
men.1 

A  branch  of  the  International  Institute,  which  is  the  name 
under  which  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  hopes 
to  develop  nation-wide  work  among  foreign  women  and  girls, 
has  been  established  in  Lawrence,  and  some  work  is  done  by 
the  regular  organization  of  the  Association  in  a  number  of 
other  cities  in  Massachusetts. 

The  Women's  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  maintains  in  connection  with  its  dock  work 
two  immigrant  homes  in  Boston,  where  immigrants  may  obtain 
lodging,  help  and  advice  of  various  kinds.  These  are  open  to 
all  races  and  creeds.  The  work  of  the  Italian  Aid  Society  is 
discussed  in  another  section  of  this  report.2 

There  is  a  Boston  branch  of  the  Baron  de  Hirsch  fund  com- 
mittee, which  conducts  an  employment  bureau  for  Jewish  immi- 
grants and  makes  a  special  effort  to  secure  employment  for 
recent  arrivals  outside  of  the  congested  centers.  The  Hebrew 
Immigrant  Aid  Society  has  agents  who  meet  the  steamers  and 
give  help  and  advice  to  those  who  are  remaining  in  Massa- 
chusetts, or  to  those  who  are  passing  through.  They  also 
assist  those  who  are  detained,  to  communicate  with  their 
relatives  and  friends  and  to  prepare  the  statement  of  their 
right  to  admission.3 

The  need  of  special  work  for  immigrant  girls  and  women 
who  come  alone  or  fail  to  find  the  friends  with  whom  they  ex- 
pected to  live  has  not  been  appreciated.  In  the  fourth  annual 
report  of  the  social  service  department  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital,  Mrs.  Jessie  D.  Hodder,  at  present  superin- 
tendent of  the  Sherborn  Reformatory  for  Women  but  at  that 
time    connected    with    the    hospital,    emphasized    this    specific 

»  See  pp.  121,  137, 159  of  this  report.  »  Ch.  XI,  p.  204.  «  Ch.  VIII,  sec.  1,  p.  162  ff. 


210  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

need.  Referring  to  the  peculiarly  helpless  situation  of  the 
immigrant  girls  who  belonged  to  the  group  of  unmarried 
mothers  which  her  department  served,  Mrs.  Hodder  asked, 
"Why  cannot  some  private  society  undertake  to  befriend  ade- 
quately each  homeless  immigrant  girl  and  all  who  come  through 
under  the  protection  of  a  relative  who  drops  them  on  landing? 
Such  an  organization  would  be  helpful  to  the  community  as 
well,  for  it  would  be  able  to  sift  out  and  see  deported  such 
subnormal,  insane  and  physically  defective  women  as  now  get 
in  despite  the  examination  of  the  immigration  officers.  Such 
an  agency  might  help  those  who  were  fitted  to  stay  to  get  a 
fair  start,  with  true  knowledge  of  our  standards."  x 

This,  so  far  as  Jewish  women  are  concerned,  is  the  work 
that  has  been  undertaken  by  the  immigration  committee  of  the 
Boston  Council  of  Jewish  women;  their  agents  visit  all  the 
Jewish  girls  who  give  as  their  destination  Boston  or  the  near- 
by cities  and  towns,  and  assist  them  in  establishing  connections 
with  school,  work  and  recreation  centers.  In  Worcester,  Spring- 
field and  several  other  cities  similar  work  is  done  by  the  local 
branches  of  the  Council  of  Jewish  Women,  but  so  effective  an 
organization  as  that  in  Boston  has  not  been  found  possible. 
This  work,  although  so  very  much  needed,  is  not  done  for  the 
other  girls  who  arrive. 

The  Associated  Charities  of  Boston  and  other  cities,  the  So- 
ciety of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  the  Hebrew  Benevolent  Associa- 
tion, the  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 
to  Children,  the  hospitals  and  many  other  social  agencies  which 
serve  both  the  native  and  the  foreign-born  have  found  their 
work  very  much  complicated,  as  they  have  been  called  upon 
to  deal  with  people  whose  language  and  traditions  were  strange 
to  them.  Many  of  the  difficulties  in  which  they  find  these 
people  are  the  result  of  mistakes  and  failures  which  come  from 
maladjustment.  To  prevent  these  mistakes  both  private  and 
public  agencies  must  unite  in  a  constructive  program  which 
will  help  the  immigrant  to  help  himself,  not  after  but  before  he 
has  become  either  delinquent  or  dependent. 

1  Fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  Social  Service  Department  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital, 
p.  26. 


1914.1  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  211 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

A  STATE  IMMIGRATION  POLICY. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  report  emphasis  was  laid  on  the 
fact  that  immigration  to  Massachusetts  has  so  increased  in 
volume  that  the  proportion  of  the  foreign-born  to  the  total 
population  has  grown  steadily  larger;  that  this  increase  has 
been  more  marked  in  the  past  ten  years,  and  even  in  the  past 
three  years,  than  ever  before;  and  that,  more  important  still, 
immigration  has  increased  in  complexity  as  the  immigrants 
from  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe  and  Asia  have  been  added 
to  those  from  Northern  and  Western  Europe.  The  commission 
believes  that  the  problems  which  come  with  a  complex  popula- 
tion cannot  be  properly  solved  without  profound  and  continuous 
study  of  the  needs  of  those  who  are  coming.  Such  a  study 
must  consider  the  previous  history  and  experience  of  these 
immigrant  races  in  connection  with  local  conditions  in  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Immigration  Bureaus  in  Other  States. 

A  realization  of  the  community  loss  which  results  from  ig- 
noring the  immigrant  has  led  several  States  to  conclude  that  a 
State  must,  in  its  own  interests,  protect  the  immigrant  against 
exploitation  and  assist  him  during  the  trying  period  of  his  ad- 
justment to  his  new  environment. 

Twenty-eight  States  have  bureaus  or  departments  of  immi- 
gration. In  12  States  these  are  independent  administrative 
bureaus;  in  10  they  are  under  the  Department  of  Agriculture, 
and  in  6,  under  the  Department  of  Labor.1 

Except  in  the  States  of  California,  New  Jersey  and  New 
^ork,  and  in  the  city  of  Cleveland,  these  bureaus  of  immigra- 
ton  are  practically  bureaus  of  publicity  established  for  the 
purpose  of  attracting  settlers,  whether  native  or  foreign  born, 
to  the  State;  and  for  this  purpose  most  of  these  States  have 
made  substantial  appropriations. 

1  These  figures  are  taken  from  the  report  of  James  Mullenbach,  formerly  Executive  Sec  re- 
of  the  Association  of  National  and  State  Land  and  Labor  and  Immigration  Officials,  November, 
1912. 


212  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

The  New  York  and  California  bureaus  are  intended  not  to 
attract  immigrants  to  the  State,  but,  in  the  interests  of  the 
State,  to  care  for  those  who  come.  In  1910  following  the  rec- 
ommendation made  by  the  New  York  Commission  on  Immi- 
gration,1 the  Legislature  of  New  York  created  a  Bureau  of 
Industries  and  Immigration,  subject  to  the  supervision  and  di- 
rection of  the  New  York  Commissioner  of  Labor.2  This 
Bureau  has  very  general  powers.  Among  them  are  the  follow- 
ing: to  make  inquiry  into  the  condition,  welfare  and  industrial 
opportunities  of  all  aliens  arriving  and  being  within  the  State; 
to  collect  information  with  respect  to  the  need  and  demand  for 
labor  and  the  supply  of  labor  afforded  by  such  aliens  as  shall 
from  time  to  time  arrive  in  the  State;  to  ascertain  their  occupa- 
tions and  the  treatment  they  may  receive  in  employment.  The 
Bureau  is  further  authorized  to  co-operate  with  employment 
and  immigration  bureaus  conducted  under  the  authority  of  the 
federal  government  or  by  the  government  of  any  other  State, 
and  with  public  and  philanthropic  agencies  interested  in  the 
distribution  of  labor;  with  the  Commissioner  of  Education  by 
supplying  the  names,  ages  and  destination  of  alien  children  of 
school  age,  and  with  the  local  educational  authorities  in  de- 
vising methods  for  the  proper  instruction  of  adult  aliens  in  the 
English  language  and  in  civics.  The  Bureau  is  also  authorized 
to  inspect  the  labor  camps  and  the  employment  and  contract 
labor  agencies  dealing  with  aliens;  to  inspect  the  immigrant 
lodging  places;  to  co-operate  with  other  public  agencies  in 
enforcing  the  laws  applicable  to  private  bankers;  to  secure 
information  with  respect  to  aliens  who  may  be  in  prisons,  alms- 
houses and  insane  asylums  of  the  State;  to  co-operate  with 
the  United  States  officials  so  as  to  facilitate  the  deportation  of 
such  persons;  and  to  investigate  and  inspect  institutions  for 
the  temporary  shelter  and  care  of  aliens,  and  philanthropic 
societies  interested  in  the  distribution  of  aliens.  The  Bureau 
has  a  further  duty  to  investigate  conditions  prevailing  at  the 
various  places  where  aliens  are  landed  in  order  to  co-operate 
with  the  proper  authorities  in  affording  them  protection 
against  the  various  forms  of  exploitation.  Finally,  the  Bureau 
is  required  to  investigate  and  study  the  general  social  condi- 

1  Report  of  the  N.  Y.  Commission  on  Immigration,  1909,  pp.  140-144. 

2  Laws  of  New  York,  1910,  ch.  514. 


Aii  alley  lined  with  large,  recently  bnilt  wooden  tenements  on  one  Bide  and  "  <>i«i 
settlers"  <>n  the  other.    (From  the  Lawrenct   Surrey,  page  - 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  213 

tions  of  aliens  within  the  State,  for  the  purpose  of  inducing 
remedial  action  by  the  various  agencies  of  the  State  possessing 
the  requisite  jurisdiction.1 

The  California  Legislature  created  in  1913  a  permanent  Com- 
mission on  Immigration  and  Housing.2  It  is  composed  of  five 
members,  who  are  appointed  and  removed  by  the  Governor. 
The  enumeration  of  its  powers  and  duties  follows  very  closely 
the  language  of  the  New  York  law,  and  in  addition,  this 
commission  is  especially  charged  to  call  to  the  attention  of  the 
proper  authorities  any  violations  it  may  discover  of  labor  and 
factory  legislation  and  of  a  failure  to  observe  the  tenement 
house  regulations.  The  members  of  the  commission  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor,  in  October,  1913. 

The  new  charter  adopted  by  the  city  of  Cleveland  in  the 
spring  of  1913  provides  for  a  city  immigration  office  in  the 
Division  of  Employment  of  the  Department  of  Public  Welfare 
in  that  city.  This  office  will  have  full  power  to  control  the  re- 
lease of  immigrants  who  arrive  at  the  depots  of  the  city;  to 
provide  temporary  care  for  them;  to  investigate  all  the  agen- 
cies affecting  the  immigrant  and  his  welfare;  to  give  advice 
and  information  to  the  immigrants  of  Cleveland;  and  to  assist 
them  in  finding  employment,  learning  English  and  preparing 
for  naturalization. 

The  New  Jersey  Commission  on  Immigration  was  created  in 
1911  to  investigate  the  needs  of  the  immigrant  and  to  recom- 
mend to  the  State  an  immigration  policy.3 

In  these  States,  and  in  the  city  of  Cleveland,  there  has  been 
official  recognition  of  the  fact  that  although  the  admission  of 
immigrants  is  in  the  hands  of  the  federal  government,  the  im- 
portant and  difficult  task  of  adjustment  belongs  to  the  State 
or  city.  The  creation  of  this  Commission  on  Immigration  to 
study  and  report  recommendations  was  a  recognition  of  thi< 
same  need  by  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 

1  This  statement  has  been  compiled  from  the  report  of  James  Mullenbach,  formerly  Executive 
Secretary  of  the  Association  of  National  and  State  Land,  Labor  and  Immigration  O  fficials,  to 
that  association  in  November,  1912. 

*  Laws  of  California,  1913,  ch.  318. 

1  The  members  of  the  commission  were  not  appointed  until  late  in  1911,  and  the  comim-  a 
did  not  organize  until  1912.  A  preliminary  report  to  the  Legislature  was  made  in  February, 
1913,  requesting  an  extension  of  time  and  an  appropriation  of  ?i,000.  This  request  was  granted 
{Law*  of  S'ew  Jersey,  1913,  ch.  92),  and  the  commission  continued  its  work  duriug  the  year  1913. 


214  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


A  State  Board  of  Immigration  needed  in  Massachusetts. 

Some  of  the  powers  and  duties  which  have  been  given  to  the 
Bureau  of  Industries  and  Immigration  in  New  York,  and  to 
the  Commission  on  Immigration  and  Housing  in  California, 
this  commission  finds  can,  be  best  performed  in  Massachusetts 
by  existing  boards  or  departments.  The  proper  education  of 
the  immigrant,  it  believes,  is  of  great  importance  to  the  State, 
and  it  has  therefore  recommended  that  this  should  be  made  the 
special  work  of  a  deputy  commissioner  of  the  State  Board  of 
Education,  and  that  the  State  should  participate  with  local  com- 
munities in  providing  these  immigrants  with  the  education  which 
the  welfare  of  the  State  requires  them  to  have.1  The  problem 
of  reducing  the  irregularity  of  employment,  of  guidance  in  the 
choice  of  an  occupation,  of  the  prevention  of  the  exploitation 
of  those  seeking  work  concerns  the  American  as  well  as  the 
immigrant;  the  commission  has  therefore  recommended  the  en- 
largement and  the  development  of  the  State  free  employment 
offices,  so  that  immigrants  as  well  as  all  others  may  be  directed 
to  the  work  for  which  they  are  best  suited.2 

But  after  everything  possible  has  been  assigned  to  existing 
boards,  there  are  still  unprovided  for  certain  very  important 
things,  which,  for  its  own  future  welfare,  the  State  must  under- 
take to  provide  for  the  immigrant.  These  are,  among  other 
things,  the  establishment  of  a  central  office  (and  such  branch 
offices  as  the  population  of  the  State  necessitates)  to  which  im- 
migrants shall  be  encouraged  to  go  for  information  and  advice. 
The  peculiar  helplessness  of  the  immigrants,  and  their  need  of 
disinterested  guidance,  have  been  referred  to  again  and  again. 
They  are  most  of  them  young  men  and  women  having  their  first 
experience  in  industrial  life,  and  encountering  for  the  first  time 
not  only  the  problems  of  an  American  city  but  of  any  city.  Many 
of  them  are  only  one  generation  removed  from  serfdom,  and 
their  helplessness  is  partly  that  of  the  recently  emancipated. 
These  people  cannot  be  properly  guided  by  an  American  who 
has  made  no  study  of  the  sources  of  their  bewilderment,  nor  by 
those  friends  who  have  only  recently  come  themselves  and  are 

i  See  ch.  VI.  2  See  ch.  II,  sec.  2. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  Xo.  2300.  215 

not  yet  qualified  to  interpret  the  complexities  of  our  life;  and 
least  of  all  can  they  be  properly  guided  by  the  people  whose 
interest  in  them  is  purely  commercial.  It  seems,  therefore, 
necessary  that  the  State  should  undertake  to  give  this  advice 
and  guidance. 

A  State  Board  of  Immigration  would  serve  as  a  clearing 
house  of  information  useful  to  the  immigrant,  and  would  be 
able  to  apply  the  civic,  social  and  philanthropic  resources  of 
the  community  to  the  needs  of  the  immigrant.  The  offices  of 
the  board  should  be  open  evenings,  in  larger  places  daily, 
and  those  placed  in  special  foreign  colonies  should  have  a 
continuous  service  in  the  local  tongue.  In  smaller  places 
special  office  hours  with  special  agents,  present  by  appointment 
for  Italian,  Yiddish,  Polish  and  French  speaking  inquirers  and 
others,  might  be  sufficient. 

In  addition  to  its  functions  in  connection  with  the  answering 
of  inquiries  and  the  investigation  of  complaints,  a  State  Board 
of  Immigration  should  give  special  attention  to  the  problems 
which  arise  at  the  docks  and  while  the  immigrant  is  in  transit 
through  Massachusetts.  The  unnecessary  suffering  which  has 
resulted  from  a  failure  to  do  this  in  the  past  is  discussed  in 
chapter  VIII  of  this  report.  The  port  of  Boston  is  rapidly  in- 
creasing in  importance,  and  the  need  for  this  protection  is,  in 
consequence,  becoming  greater. 

Such  a  board  should  also  make  special  investigations  from 
time  to  time  of  new  groups  and  new  conditions,  so  that  it  may 
be  prepared  to  offer  the  expert  advice  of  which  the  State,  local 
communities  and  social  agencies  are  so  much  in  need.  It 
should  include  in  its  force  one  special  agent  competent  to  give 
advice  which  is  so  much  needed  by  those  desiring  to  settle  on 
farms  or  to  secure  homes.1 

The  commission  believes  that  the  welfare  of  the  State  or  of 
the  immigrant  will  not  be  best  served  by  unnecessary  emphasis 
on  the  fact  that  the  immigrant  is  foreign  and  not  American 
born,  and  that  so  far  as  possible  his  needs  should  be  considered 
in  connection  with  similar  needs  of  the  native-born.     There  is, 

however,  no  justification  in  ignoring,  to  the  irreparable  injury 

— i . 

-ue  pp.  76,77. 


216  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

of  the  immigrant  and  the  Commonwealth,  the  fact  that  solely 
because  of  his  ignorance  of  the  language  and  of  the  country  he 
requires  a  kind  of  assistance  which  the  native-born  does  not 
need. 

The  Commission  therefore  recommends  that  a  State  Board 
of  Immigration  which  will  perform  the  functions  just  enu- 
merated shall  be  created.1 

1  The  need  of  such  a  Board  is  touched  on  in  pp.  113,  161,  166, 167,  168, 174,  191,  196,  197,  209, 
210;  for  the  proposed  Act  to  create  such  a  Board,  see  p.  233. 


1914.1  •  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  21' 


PART  II. 


PROPOSED  ACTS. 

An  Act  to  provide  for  the  Education  and  Employment  of  Illiter- 
ate and  Non-English  Speaking  Persons. 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

Section  1.  A  minor  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  seventeen  years 
of  age  who  is  illiterate  or  non-English  speaking  in  the  sense  that  he  does 
not  possess  the  educational  qualification  prescribed  in  section  one  of  chap- 
ter forty-four  of  the  Revised  Laws,  as  amended  by  section  one  of  chapter 
seven  hundred  and  seventy-nine  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen,  may  be  employed  for  not  more  than  five  and  a  half  hours  in 
any  one  day,  within  the  hours  and  in  the  kinds  of  labor  permitted  by  law 
to  literate  persons  of  the  same  age :  provided,  that  such  minor  shall  be  free 
to  attend  and  shall  attend  a  three-hour  session  of  school  either  between 
the  hours  of  eight  in  the  morning  and  twelve  noon,  or  between  the  hours 
of  one  and  five  in  the  afternoon  of  each  school  day  so  long  as  the  schools 
provided  for  his  attendance  are  in  session,  and  shall  furnish  his  employer 
each  week  a  record  of  regular  attendance  thereon;  provided,  also,  that  the 
person,  firm,  or  corporation  employing  such  minor  procures  and  keeps  on 
file,  accessible  to  the  attendance  officers  of  the  city  or  town,  to  agents  of 
the  board  of  education,  and  to  the  state  board  of  labor  and  industries 
or  its  authorized  agents  or  inspectors,  a  special  half-time  employment  cer- 
tificate as  hereinafter  prescribed. 

Section  2.  The  special  half-time  employment  certificate  referred  to 
in  section  one  of  this  act  shall  be  designed,  furnished,  and  issued  in  accord- 
ance with  the  terms  of  sections  fifty-eight  and  sixty  of  chapter  five  hundred 
and  fourteen  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  as  amended 
by  sections  sixteen  and  eighteen  of  chapter  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
nine  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen,  except  that  the 
school  record  and  the  statement  of  grade  last  attended  shall  not  be  required 
and  the  certificate  shall  also  distinctly  show  the  absence  of  the  educational 
qualification  required  by  said  section  sixty.  Both  the  certificate  and  the 
employer's  promise  shall  also  distinctly  show  the  limited  nature  of  the  pro- 
posed employment.  The  applicant  for  such  certificate,  his  employer  or 
intending  employer,  all  persons  offering  evidence  in  behalf  of  the  appli- 
cant, and  the  person  issuing  the  certificate  shall  be  subject  to  the  same 
ligations,  restrictions,  and  penalties  as  if  the  certificate  were  issued  under 
the  provision  of  said  chapter  five  hundred  and  fourteen  as  amended. 


218  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

Section  3.  Every  person  between  fourteen  and  twenty-one  years  of 
age  who  does  not  possess  the  educational  qualification  prescribed  in 
section  one  of  chapter  forty-four  of  the  Revised  Laws,  as  amended  by  sec- 
tion one  of  chapter  seven  hundred  and  seventy-nine  of  the  acts  of  the 
year  nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen,  if  under  seventeen  years  of  age  shall 
attend  while  employed  one  session  and  while  unemployed  two  sessions 
each  day  of  the  day  school,  whether  special  or  regular,  maintained  in  or 
for  the  city  or  town  of  his  residence  for  the  instruction  of  such  illiterates 
and  non-English  speaking  persons  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  so  long  as  such  schools  are  in  session ;  and  if  over  seventeen  years 
of  age,  such  person  shall  regularly  attend  the  evening  school,  or  if  em- 
ployed in  the  evening,  one  session  each  day  of  the  day  school,  special  or 
regular,  provided  in  or  for  the  city  or  cown  of  his  residence  during  the  en- 
tire period  such  schools  are  in  session;  and  failing  so  to  attend  school,  if 
under  sixteen  years  of  age,  shall  be  dealt  with  as  an  habitual  absentee, 
and  if  over  sixteen,  may  upon  conviction  be  punished  by  a  line  of  not 
more  than  twenty  dollars. 

The  person  authorized  to  issue  employment  certificatr  s  or  teachers  act- 
ing under  his  authority  may.  however,  excuse  unavoidable  absence. 

Section  4.  Every  employer  of  an  illiterate  or  non-English  speaking 
person  between  fourteen  and  twenty-one  years  of  age  under  the  provisions 
of  this  act,  and  every  person  having  under  his  control  such  a  person,  shall 
cause  him  to  attend  school  as  provided  in  section  three  of  this  act,  and  if 
he  fails  for  five  sessions  within  any  period  of  six  months  while  such  control 
obtains  to  cause  such  child  to  attend  school  as  provided  in  this  act,  he  shall 
upon  complaint  by  an  attendance  officer  and  conviction  thereof  be  punished 
by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  one  hundred  dollars. 

Section  5.  Every  city  or  town  in  which  there  are  twenty  or  more 
persons  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age  who  do  not  possess 
the  educational  qualification  referred  to  in  section  one  shall  provide  for  such 
illiterate  or  non-English  speaking  persons  instruction  in  the  English  lan- 
guage, American  citizenship,  and  such  subjects  as  the  state  board  of  educa- 
tion may  direct;  such  instruction  shall  be  given  in  a  special  school  or  special 
schools  with  three-hour  sessions  in  the  morning  between  the  hours  of  eight 
and  twelve  or  in  the  afternoon  between  one  o'clock  and  five,  or  both,  for 
five  days  per  week  for  not  less  than  forty  weeks  in  each  year:  pro- 
vided, however,  that  with  the  approval  of  the  state  board  of  education,  two 
or  more  cities  and  towns  may  unite  in  the  establishment  and  maintenance 
of  such  schools;  provided,  further,  that  a  city  or  town  in  which  the  number 
of  such  illiterates  is  less  than  twenty,  or  in  which  such  illiterates  although 
in  excess  of  twenty  are  so  scattered  as  to  make  the  maintenance  of  special 
schools  impracticable,  shall  make  such  provision  for  their  instruction 
cither  in  the  regular  public  schools,  by  maintaining  special  schools  severally 
or  in  union  with  other  cities  or  towns,  by  paying  tuition  in  special  schools 
maintained  in  other  cities  or  towns,  or  otherwise,  as  the  state  board  of  edu- 
cation may  approve. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  219 

Section  6.  Every  city  or  town  in  which  there  are  fifteen  or  more  per- 
sons between  seventeen  and  twenty-one  years  of  age  who  do  not  possess 
the  educational  qualification  referred  to  in  section  one,  shall  maintain 
evening  schools  for  the  instruction  of  such  persons  in  the  English  language, 
American  citizenship,  and  such  subjects  as  the  state  board  of  education 
may  prescribe  at  least  three  evenings  per  week  for  not  less  than  forty  weeks 
in  each  year;  provided,  however,  that  with  the  approval  of  the  state  board 
of  education  two  or  more  cities  and  towns  may  unite  in  the  maintenance  of 
such  evening  schools,  or  one  city  or  town  may  make  provision  for  its 
students  in  evening  schools  maintained  by  another,  upon  terms  that  may 
be  agreed  upon. 

Section  7.  Any  city  or  town  required  by  the  provisions  of  this  act  to 
maintain  special  evening  schools,  and  any  other  city  or  town  when  peti- 
tioned so  to  do  by  not  less  than  twenty  persons  desiring  and  qualified  to 
attend  such  a  school,  shall  maintain  for  at  least  three  evenings  per  week 
throughout  the  period  during  which  it  maintains  the  other  special  schools 
provided  for  by  this  act,  or  if  it  maintains  no  others  then  throughout  the 
public  school  year,  an  evening  school  for  more  advanced  instruction  for 
persons  over  fourteen  years  of  age  who  possess  the  educational  qualifica- 
tion to  exempt  them  and  are  otherwise  exempt  from  compulsory  attend- 
ance upon  day  or  evening  school.  The  attendance  of  such  persons  shall 
be  voluntary,  subject  to  the  provisions  of  chapter  three  hundred  and  nine 
of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  eleven.  If  the  average  at- 
tendance for  any  period  of  two  weeks  falls  below  fifteen,  such  school  may 
be  discontinued.  The  provisions  of  tins  section  shall  not  apply  to  evening 
high  schools  or  other  schools  for  instruction  beyond  grammar  grade. 

Section  8.  Any  city  or  town  may  admit  to  the  special  day  and  shall 
admit  to  the  special  evening  schools  provided  for  in  sections  five  and  six, 
illiterates  or  non-English  speaking  persons  over  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
or  may  maintain  special  schools  or  provide  special  instruction  either  in 
the  day  or  evening  for  such  persons,  whose  attendance  shall  be  voluntary. 

Section  9.  All  special  day  or  evening  schools  for  illiterates  or  non- 
English  speaking  persons,  and  all  evening  schools  of  grammar  grade  pro- 
vided for  by  this  act,  shall  be  established  and  maintained  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  state  board  of  education,  and  cities  and  towns  maintaining; 
such  schools  or  instruction  approved  by  the  state  board  of  education  as 
to  location,  organization,  equipment,  courses  of  study,  qualifications  of 
teachers,  methods  of  instruction,  and  expenditure  of  money  shall  receive 
reimbursement  as  provided  in  section  ten. 

Section  10.  The  commonwealth,  in  order  to  aid  in  the  maintenance 
of  the  approved  schools  provided  for  in  this  act,  shall  pay  annually  from 
the  treasury  to  each  city  or  town  maintaining  or  sharing  in  the  mainte- 
nance of  such  approved  schools  an  amount  proportioned  as  follows  to  the 
cost  of  instruction,  including  only  the  sum  raised  by  local  taxation  and  ex- 
pended for  salaries  of  teachers,  principals,  supervisors,  and  administrative 
officers  employed  in  such  special  approved  schools,  or  for  tuition  in  the 


220  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

same.  If  a  city  or  town  for  the  fiscal  year  for  which  it  is  to  be  reimbursed 
has  raised  by  local  taxation  and  expended  for  the  support  of  the  public 
schools  as  that  term  is  used  in  section  four  of  chapter  forty-three  of  the 
Revised  Laws  less  than  four  dollars  for  every  thousand  of  its  valuation, 
the  commonwealth  shall  pay  four  tenths  of  the  cost  of  instruction  of  the 
special  approved  schools  maintained  by  the  city  or  town;  if  four  dollars 
but  not  four  and  a  half  per  thousand,  five  tenths  of  said  cost;  if  four  and  a 
half  but  not  five  dollars  per  thousand,  six  tenths ;  if  five  dollars  or  more 
per  thousand,  seven  tenths;  provided,  however,  that  any  sums  received  or  due 
for  the  tuition  in  such  special  schools  of  students  from  another  city  or  town 
shall  be  deducted  from  the  cost  of  instruction  before  reckoning  the  share 
to  be  paid  by  the  commonwealth. 

i  Section  11.  No  illiterate  or  non-English  speaking  minor  under  seven- 
teen years  of  age  shall  be  employed  or  harbored  in  any  construction  camp 
or  other  place  in  which  laborers  are  temporarily  gathered  away  from  their 
homes,  and  in  which  they  temporarily  abide  for  the  prosecution  of  any  pub- 
lic or  contract  work.  If  in  such  camp  or  other  gathering  place  there  are 
employed  (1)  illiterate  persons  between  seventeen  and  twenty-one  3rears 
of  age  in  such  number  as  under  the  provisions  of  section  six  to  require  the 
establishment  of  an  evening  school  for  their  instruction,  or  (2)  twenty  illit- 
erate persons,  adult  or  minor,  who  signify  their  desire  to  attend  such  an 
evening  school,  and  if  such  persons  are  not  residents  of  the  city  or  town, 
or  if  such  camp  or  gathering  place  is  so  located  as  to  make  it  impracticable 
for  them  to  attend  the  established  schools  provided  for  the  instruction  of 
such  persons,  then  evening  schools  necessary  for  their  instruction  shall  be 
established  and  maintained  by  the  commonwealth  under  the  direction  of 
the  state  board  of  education.  Whenever  such  schools  are  established  they 
shall  likewise  be  open  to  adults  who  may  desire  to  attend. 
k  Section  12.  For  the  purpose  of  supervising,  directing,  and  maintain- 
ing the  special  day  and  evening  schools  and  special  instruction  provided  for 
in  this  act  the  state  board  of  education  shall  appoint  a  special  deputy  com- 
missioner and  such  subordinate  officers  as  may  be  necessary,  subject  to  the 
provisions  of  section  three  of  chapter  four  hundred  and  fifty-seven  of  the 
acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  as  amended  by  chapter  four 
hundred  and  twenty-one  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  thir- 
teen relative  to  appointment,  powers,  duties,  salaries,  and  term  of  service. 

And  the  state  board  of  education  acting  in  accordance  with  the  spirit 
of  this  act  shall  have  power  to  modify  its  literal  application  to  local  con- 
ditions. 

Section  13.  Section  one  of  chapter  forty-four  of  the  Revised  Laws, 
as  amended  by  section  one  of  chapter  seven  hundred  and  seventy-nine  of 
the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen,  is  hereby  further 
amended  by  inserting  in  line  sixteen  of  said  section  after  the  words  "  pro- 
vided for"  the  words:  —  in  chapter  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nine- 
teen hundred  and  fourteen  and,  —  so  as  to  read  as  follows :  —  Section  1 . 
livery  child  between  seven  and  fourteen  years  of  age,  every  child  under 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  221 

sixteen  years  of  age  who  does  not  possess  such  ability  to  read,  write  and 
spell  in  the  English  language  as  is  required  for  the  completion  of  the  fourth 
grade  of  the  public  schools  of  the  city  or  town  in  which  he  resides,  and 
every  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age  who  has  not  received  an  employment 
certificate  as  provided  in  this  act  and  is  not  engaged  in  some  regular  em- 
ployment or  business  for  at  least  six  hours  per  day  or  has  not  the  written 
permission  of  the  superintendent  of  schools  of  the  city  or  town  in  which 
he  resides  to  engage  in  profitable  employment  at  home,  shall  attend  a  pub- 
lic day  school  in  said  city  or  town,  or  some  other  dajr  school  approved  by 
the  school  committee,  during  the  entire  time  the  public  schools  are  in  ses- 
sion, subject  to  such  exceptions  as  are  provided  for  in  chapter 
of  the  acts  of  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  in  sections  four,  five  and 
six  of  this  chapter,  and  in  section  three  of  chapter  forty-two  of  the  Revised 
Laws,  as  amended  by  chapter  four  hundred  and  thirty-three  of  the  acts 
of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  two,  and  by  chapter  five  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  eleven;  but  such 
attendance  shall  not  be  required  of  a  child  whose  physical  or  mental  con- 
dition is  such  as  to  render  attendance  inexpedient  or  impracticable,  or  who 
is  being  otherwise  instructed  in  a  manner  approved  in  advance  by  the  su- 
perintendent of  schools  or  the  school  committee.  The  superintendent  of 
schools,  or  teachers  in  so  far  as  authorized  by  said  superintendent  or  by 
the  school  committee,  may  excuse  cases  of  necessary  absence  for  other 
causes  not  exceeding  five  day  sessions  or  ten  half -day  sessions  in  any  period 
of  six  months.  For  the  purposes  of  this  section,  school  committees  shall  ap- 
prove a  private  school  only  when  the  instruction  in  all  the  studies  required 
by  law  is  in  the  English  language,  and  when  they  are  satisfied  that  such  in- 
struction equals  in  thoroughness  and  efficiency,  and  in  the  progress  made 
therein,  the  instruction  in  the  public  schools  in  the  same  city  or  town;  but 
they  shall  not  refuse  to  approve  a  private  school  on  account  of  the 
religious  teaching  therein. 

Section  14.  Section  fifty-seven  of  chapter  five  hundred  and  fourteen 
of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  as  amended  by  section 
fifteen  of  chapter  seven  hundred  and  seventy-nine  of  the  acts  of  the  year 
nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen,  is  hereby  further  amended  by  substituting 
for  the  word  "sixteen ",  in  the  first  and  fourteenth  lines,  the  word :  —  seven- 
teen, —  and  by  inserting  in  the  tenth  line  after  the  word  "provided",  the 
words:  —  or  as  provided  in  section  two  of  chapter  of  the  laws 

of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen  to  be,  —  so  as  to  read  as  fol- 
lows:—  Section  57.  No  child  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of 
age  shall  be  employed  or  be  permitted  to  work  in,  about  or  in  connection 
with  any  factory,  workshop,  manufacturing,  mechanical  or  mercantile  es- 
tablishment unless  the  person,  firm  or  corporation  employing  such  child 
procures  and  keeps  on  file  accessible  to  the  attendance  officers  of  the  city 
or  town,  to  agents  of  the  state  board  of  education,  and  to  the  state  board 
of  labor  and  industries  or  its  authorized  agents  or  inspectors,  the  employ- 
ment certificate  as  provided  to  be  issued  to  such  child,  or  as  provided  id 


222  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

section  two,  and  keeps  a  complete  list  of  the  names  and  ages  of  all  such 
children  employed  therein  conspicuously  posted  near  the  principal  en- 
trance of  the  building  in  which  such  children  are  employed:  provided, 
however,  that  children  who  are  over  fourteen  but  under  seventeen  years  of 
age  shall  be  permitted  to  work  in  mercantile  establishments  on  Saturdays 
between  the  hours  of  seven  in  the  morning  and  six  in  the  evening,  without 
such  certificate.  On  termination  of  the  employment  of  a  child  whose 
employment  certificate  is  on  file,  said  certificate  shall  be  returned  by 
the  employer  within  two  days  after  said  termination  to  the  office  of  the 
superintendent  of  schools  from  which  it  was  issued. 

Section  15.  Section  sixty-six  of  said  chapter  five  hundred  and  four- 
teen as  amended  is  hereby  further  amended  by  substituting  for  the  wrord 
u sixteen",  in  the  first  and  twenty-third  lines,  the  word:  —  seventeen,  — 
and  by  inserting  in  line  twenty-eight  after  the  words  " maintained  in" 
the  words :  —  or  for,  —  so  as  to  read  as  follows :  —  Section  66.  No  child 
who  is  over  seventeen  and  under  twenty-one  years  of  age  shall  be  em- 
ployed in  a  factory,  workshop,  manufacturing,  mechanical  or  mercantile 
establishment  unless  his  employer  procures  and  keeps  on  file  an  educa- 
tional certificate  showing  the  age  of  the  child  and  his  ability  or  inability 
to  read  and  write  as  hereinafter  provided.  Such  certificates  shall  be  issued 
by  the  person  authorized  by  this  act  to  issue  employment  certificates. 

The  person  authorized  to  issue  such  educational  certificates  shall,  so  far 
as  is  practicable,  require  the  proof  of  age  stated  in  section  fifty-eight.  He 
shall  examine  the  child  and  certify  whether  or  not  he  possesses  the  educa- 
tional qualifications  enumerated  in  section  one  of  chapter  forty-four  of 
the  Revised  Laws,  as  amended.  Every  such  certificate  shall  be  signed  in 
the  presence  of  the  person  issuing  the  same  by  the  child  in  whose  name  it 
is  issued. 

Every  employer  of  such  children  shall  keep  their  educational  certificates 
accessible  to  any  officer  authorized  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
and  shall  return  said  certificates  to  the  office  from  which  they  were  issued 
within  two  days  after  the  date  of  the  termination  of  the  employment  of 
said  children.  If  the  educational  certificate  of  any  child  who  is  over  seven- 
teen and  under  twenty-one  years  of  age  fails  to  show  that  said  child  pos- 
sesses the  educational  qualifications  enumerated  in  section  one  of  chapter 
forty-four  of  the  Revised  Laws,  as  amended,  then  no  person  shall  employ 
such  child  while  a  public  evening  school  is  maintained  in  or  for  the  city 
or  town  in  which  the  child  resides,  unless  such  child  is  a  regular  attendant 
at  such  evening  school  or  at  a  day  school  and  presents  to  his  employer 
each  week  a  school  record  of  such  attendance.  When  such  record  shows 
unexcused  absences,  such  attendance  shall  be  deemed  to  be  irregular  and 
insufficient.  The  person  authorized  to  issue  educational  certificates,  or 
teachers  acting  under  his  authority,  may,  however,  excuse  justifiable 
absence.  Whoever  employs  a  child  in  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this 
section  shall  forfeit  not  more  than  one  hundred  dollars  for  each  offence, 
to  the  use  of  the  evening  schools  of  such  city  or  town.    A  parent,  guardian 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  223 

or  custodian  who  permits  a  child  to  be  employed  in  violation  of  the  pro- 
visions of  this  section  shall  forfeit  not  more  than  twenty  dollars,  to  the 
use  of  the  evening  schools  of  such  city  or  town. 

Section  16.  The  sums  raised  by  taxation  and  expended  by  the  several 
cities  and  towns  for  the  maintenance  of  special  schools  and  special  instruc- 
tion under  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  not  be  included  with  the  ex- 
penditure of  the  school  committee  for  the  support  of  public  schools  where 
such  expenditure  is  limited  to  a  certain  proportion  of  the  tax  rate  or  to  a 
certain  percentage  of  the  valuation,  or  where  the  inclusion  of  said  sums 
would  otherwise  affect  the  amount  available  for  support  of  public  schools 
or  of  special  or  independent  schools,  whether  from  local  taxation,  from 
the  Massachusetts  School  Fund,  or  from  other  state  aid. 

Section  17.  Chapter  four  hundred  and  sixty-seven  of  the  acts  of  the 
year  nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen,  and  all  acts  or  parts  of  acts  incon- 
sistent with  the  provisions  of  this  act,  are  hereby  repealed. 

Section  18.  This  act  shall  take  effect  September  first  in  the  year 
nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  but  it  shall  not  invalidate  any  educational 
certificate  theretofore  duly  issued  to  a  person  over  sixteen  years  of  age, 
or  any  reissue  of  such  certificate,  nor  shall  it  change  the  conditions  under 
which  the  person  for  whom  such  certificate  has  been  issued  may  be  em- 
ployed. 

An  Act  to  provide  that  the  Board  of  Education  shall  supervise 
the  School  Attendance  and  Employment  of  Children. 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  one  of  chapter  forty-four  of  the  Revised  Laws, 
as  amended  by  chapter  three  hundred  and  twenty  of  the  acts  of  the  year 
nineteen  hundred  and  five,  and  by  chapter  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  six,  and  by  section  one 
of  chapter  seven  hundred  and  seventy-nine  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen 
hundred  and  thirteen,  is  hereby  amended  by  striking  out  the  words 
"school  committee",  in  the  fourteenth  line,  and  inserting  in  place  thereof 
the  words:  —  state  board  of  education,  —  also  by  striking  out  the  words 
"school  committees",  in  the  thirty-first  and  thirty-second  lines,  and  in- 
serting in  place  thereof  the  words:  —  the  state  board  of  education,  —  also 
by  striking  out  the  words  "  they  are  ",  in  the  thirty-fourth  line,  and  insert 
in  place  thereof  the  words:  —  it  is,  —  also  by  striking  out  the  word  "  Ban 
in  the  thirty-seventh  line,  and  by  inserting  after  the  word  "town",  in  the 
same  line,  the  words:  —  in  which  the  private  school  in  question  is  situated. 
—  also  by  striking  out  the  word  "they",  in  the  same  lint*,  and  inserting 
in  place  thereof  the  word:  —  it,  —  also  by  adding  at  the  end  of  the  said 
section  the  words:  —  School  committees  when  and  as  required  by  the  state 
board  of  education  shall  furnish  detailed  statistical  information  regard- 
ing all  private  schools  within  their  corporate  boundaries,  —  so  as  to  r 
as  follows:  —  Section  1.  Every  child  between  seven  and  fourteen  yi 
of  age,  every  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age  who  does  not  p  such 


224  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

ability  to  read,  write  and  spell  in  the  English  language  as  is  required  for 
the  completion  of  the  fourth  grade  of  the  public  schools  of  the  city  or 
town  in  which  he  resides,  and  every  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age  who 
has  not  received  an  employment  certificate  as  provided  in  this  act  and 
is  not  engaged  in  some  regular  employment  or  business  for  at  least  six 
hours  per  day  or  has  not  the  written  permission  of  the  superintendent 
of  schools  of  the  city  or  town  in  which  he  resides  to  engage  in  profitable 
employment  at  home,  shall  attend  a  public  day  school  in  said  city  or 
town,  or  some  other  day  school  approved  by  the  state  board  of  education, 
during  the  entire  time  the  public  schools  are  in  session,  subject  to  such 
exceptions  as  are  provided  for  in  sections  four,  five  and  six  of  this  chap- 
ter and  in  section  three  of  chapter  forty-two  of  the  Revised  Laws,  as 
amended  by  chapter  four  hundred  and  thirty-three  of  the  acts  of  the 
year  nineteen  hundred  and  two,  and  by  chapter  five  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  eleven;  but  such 
attendance  shall  not  be  required  of  a  child  whose  physical  or  mental 
condition  is  such  as  to  render  attendance  inexpedient  or  impracticable, 
or  who  is  being  otherwise  instructed  in  a  manner  approved  in  advance 
by  the  superintendent  of  schools  or  the  school  committee.  The  super- 
intendent of  schools,  or  teachers  in  so  far  as  authorized  by  said  superin- 
tendent or  by  the  school  committee,  may  excuse  cases  of  necessary  absence 
for  other  causes  not  exceeding  five  day  sessions  or  ten  half -day  sessions  in 
any  period  of  six  months.  For  the  purposes  of  this  section,  the  state  board 
of  education  shall  approve  a  private  school  only  when  the  instruction  in 
all  the  studies  required  by  law  is  in  the  English  language,  and  when  it  is 
satisfied  that  such  instruction  equals  in  thoroughness  and  efficiency,  and 
in  the  progress  made  therein,  the  instruction  in  the  public  schools  in  the 
city  or  town  in  which  the  private  school  in  question  is  situated;  but  it 
shall  not  refuse  to  approve  a  private  school  on  account  of  the  religious 
teaching  therein.  School  committees  when  and  as  required  by  the  board 
of  education  shall  furnish  detailed  statistical  information  regarding  all 
private  schools  within  their  corporate  boundaries. 

Section  2.  Section  two  of  the  chapter  designated  in  section  one  of 
this  act  is  hereby  amended  by  adding  at  the  end  of  the  said  section  the 
following  words:  —  Whenever  the  state  board  of  education  has  reason  to 
believe  that  any  person  in  any  city  or  town  is  failing  to  comply  with  the 
law  respecting  school  attendance,  and  that  the  school  committee  of  said 
city  or  town  through  its  attendance  officer  is  failing  to  take  effective 
measures  to  enforce  the  law,  the  state  board  of  education  may  formally  and 
in  writing  bring  to  the  attention  of  the  said  school  committee  the  facts 
on  which  the  board's  beliefs  in  the  matter  are  based,  request  said  school 
committee  to  take  action,  and  demand  of  said  school  committee  a  written 
report  to  be  made  within  fifteen  days  of  the  date  of  the  board's  notifica- 
tion, the  said  report  to  state  the  action  taken  by  or  at  the  direction  of  the 
school  committee,  the  reasons  therefor,  and  the  results  thereof.  Failure 
on  the  part  of  any  school  committee  to  make  report  to  the  state  board  of 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  225 

education  as  herein  required  shall  be  punishable  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than 
twenty  nor  more  than  two  hundred  dollars. 

Whenever  any  school  committee  on  due  notification  and  request  by  the 
state  board  of  education  fails  to  take  action  within  fifteen  days  after  such 
notification  and  request,  or  whenever  the  action  taken  by  such  school 
committee  or  the  results  thereof  are  unsatisfactory  to  the  state  board 
of  education,  the  said  board  shall  have  all  powers  conferred  on  the  said 
school  committee  and  its  attendance  officer  to  prosecute  through  any  of 
its  deputies  or  agents  violations  of  the  school  attendance  law. 

For  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  this  section  and  of 
section  one  of  this  act,  the  state  board  of  education  may  appoint  additional 
deputies  and  assistants  as  it  may  deem  necessary.  The  additional  ex- 
pense so  incurred  shall  not  exceed  ten  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  salaries 
and  two  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  traveling  expenses. 

An  Act  relative  to  the  Taking  of  an  Annual  School  Census. 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

Section  three  of  chapter  forty-three  of  the  Revised  Laws  is  hereby 
amended  by  striking  out  all  words  of  the  said  section  three  and  substi- 
tuting therefor  the  following,  so  as  to  read  as  follows:  —  Section  8.  The 
school  committee  of  each  city  and  town  shall  keep  a  permanent  record 
of  the  names,  ages  and  such  other  information  as  may  be  required  by  the 
state  board  of  education,  of  all  persons  between  five  and  twenty-one 
years  of  age  residing  in  its  city  or  town;  such  record  shall  be  kept  as 
directed  and  on  forms  as  prescribed  by  the  state  board  of  education,  and 
shall  be  thoroughly  revised  annually  between  the  fifteenth  day  of  Au- 
gust and  the  first  day  of  November,  and  at  such  other  times  as  the  com- 
mittee may  find  advisable.  Whoever,  having  under  his  control  a  minor 
over  five  years  of  age,  withholds  information  sought  by  a  school  com- 
mittee or  its  agents  under  the  provisions  of  this  section,  or  makes  a  false 
statement  relative  thereto,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than 
fifty  dollars.  The  state  board  of  education  is  authorized  and  directed 
to  make  examination,  through  its  agents,  from  time  to  time,  as  it  may 
find  advisable,  of  the  census  records  of  any  city  or  town;  and  the  school 
committee  of  any  city  or  town  shall  make  such  returns  from  its  census 
records  and  at  such  times  as  the  state  board  of  education  may  require. 

An  Act  relative  to  Court  Interpreters. 
Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

Section  1.  The  justices  of  any  court  in  which  the  services  of  an 
interpreter  are  needed  shall  appoint  from  an  eligible  fist  prepared  by  the 
civil  service  commission  such  official  interpreters,  temporary  or  perma- 
nent, as  they  may  deem  necessary  for  the  criminal  or  civil  sessions  of  the 
court,  and  shall  fix  their  compensation.  Such  interpreters  shall  hold 
their  positions  at  the  pleasure  of  the  court,  and  shall  render  such  addi- 
tional service  as  any  justice  of  the  court  may  require.    The  justices  shall 


226  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

forthwith  discharge  any  such  interpreter  who  shall  be  found  by  them  to 
have  requested  or  received,  directly  or  indirectly,  any  gratuity,  bonus 
or  fee  in  connection  with  any  case  pending  or  in  course  of  preparation 
for  presentation  to  any  court.  The  name  of  any  person  so  discharged 
shall  be  stricken  from  the  eligible  list.  The  provisions  of  this  section  shall 
not  prevent  the  court  from  employing,  and  allowing  reasonable  com- 
pensation to,  other  interpreters  when  the  services  of  those  interpreters 
whose  names  are  on  the  eligible  list  are  not  available  or  when  there  is 
no  eligible  list. 

Section  2.  The  civil  service  commission  is  hereby  authorized  and 
directed  to  hold  examinations  for  the  position  of  court  interpreter,  and 
to  prepare  a  list  of  persons  eligible  to  be  so  employed. 

An  Act  concerning  State  Free  Employment  Offices. 
Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

Section  1.  From  and  after  the  first  day  of  September,  in  the  year 
nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  there  shall  be  established  under  the  au- 
thority and  direction  of  the  board  of  labor  and  industries  a  bureau  to  be 
known  as  the  bureau  of  employment.  The  four  employment  offices  now 
under  the  care  and  direction  of  the  director  of  the  bureau  of  statistics 
shall  be  maintained  and  taken  over  by  the  said  bureau  of  employment. 
The  board  of  labor  and  industries  shall  appoint  a  chief  who  shall  have 
general  supervision  of  the  work  of  the  bureau,  and  said  board  may  take 
such  affirmative  action  as  may  seem  to  it  feasible  for  the  carrying  out 
of  any  or  all  of  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

Section  2.  The  business  of  such  employment  offices  as  shall  be  main- 
tained under  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  to  receive  and  register 
applications  for  employment  and  applications  for  employees,  and  to  assist 
employees  to  obtain  employment  and  employers  to  obtain  employees, 
and  to  perform  such  other  functions  in  connection  with  the  work  as  the 
said  bureau  may  direct. 

Section  3.  The  bureau  of  employment  shall  also  investigate  and  con- 
sider whether  it  is  possible  for  it,  through  said  employment  offices,  by  con- 
ferences with  employers,  by  intercommunication  between  the  employment 
offices  of  this  and  other  states  and  of  the  United  States,  by  the  collection 
and  distribution  of  statistics  and  information,  or  by  any  other  means,  to 
provide  a  more  abundant  and  better  supply  of  farm  labor  throughout  the 
commonwealth;  to  bring  about  a  better  system  of  shifting  employees  from 
one  industry  to  another  in  accordance  with  the  seasonal  fluctuations  of 
business  in  the  various  branches  of  industry;  to  secure  more  speedy  and 
suitable  employment  for  immigrants;  to  assist  young  persons  just  entering 
the  field  of  employment  to  choose  and  obtain  such  employment  as  will 
give  them  the  best  available  opportunity  for  future  development;  or  in 
any  other  way  to  reduce  the  evils  and  economic  losses  resulting  from  un- 
employment and  misemployment  of  both  the  skilled  and  the  unskilled 
and  bring  about  a  more  scientific  organization  of  the  labor  market  of  the 
commonwealth. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  227 

Section  4.  The  chief  of  the  bureau  of  employment  shall,  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  board  of  labor  and  industries,  appoint  a  superintendent  for 
each  of  the  offices  maintained  under  section  two,  who  shall,  under  the 
direction  of  said  chief,  have  the  general  management  of  said  office  and  per- 
form such  other  duties  in  connection  therewith  as  said  bureau  may  require. 
The  chief  of  the  bureau,  with  the  approval  of  the  board  of  labor  and  indus- 
tries, shall  appoint  an  assistant  superintendent,  such  clerks  and  such  other 
agents  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  for  the  proper  conduct  of  the  business 
of  each  of  said  employment  offices.  Such  superintendents,  assistant  su- 
perintendents, such  clerks  and  agents  as  may  be  appointed  shall  receive 
such  salary  as  may  be  determined  by  the  board  of  labor  and  industries, 
and  may  be  removed  from  office  at  any  time  by  said  board.  All  such 
superintendents,  assistant  superintendents  and  clerks  shall  be  classified 
and  appointed  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  chapter  nineteen  of 
the  Revised  Laws,  and  acts  in  amendment  thereof,  and  the  rules  adopted 
thereunder. 

Section  5.  No  fees  direct  or  indirect  shall  in  any  case  be  taken  from 
those  seeking  the  benefits  of  said  employment  offices.  Any  superintend- 
ent or  clerk  who  directly  or  indirectly  charges  or  receives  any  fee  in  the 
performance  of  his  duties  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than 
one  hundred  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  in  jail  for  a  term  not  exceeding 
thirty  days,  and  shall  be  disqualified  from  holding  any  further  posi- 
tion in  connection  with  said  employment  offices. 

Section  6.  In  registering  at  any  employment  office  maintained  under 
the  provisions  of  this  act  applications  for  employment  and  for  employees 
wanted,  preference  shall  be  given  to  residents  of  the  commonwealth. 

Section  7.  The  bureau  shall  require  each  superintendent  to  supply 
information  in  regard  to  the  local  labor  market,  and  shall  arrange  for  its 
exchange  among  the  state  employment  offices,  city  and  town  clerks,  and 
such  other  agencies  or  persons  as  the  chief  of  the  bureau  may  direct. 
Every  city  and  town  clerk  shall  post  the  lists  received  as  aforesaid  in  one 
or  more  conspicuous  places  in  the  city  or  town. 

Section  8.  The  board  of  labor  and  industries  and  the  chief  of  the 
bureau  of  employment,  acting  together,  may  appoint  unpaid  advisory 
committees.  Such  committees  may  be  local  committees  co-operating  with 
the  general  work  of  special  offices,  or  they  may  be  committees,  state  or 
local,  to  co-operate  in  connection  with  special  aspects  of  the  employment 
problem,  as,  for  instance,  the  employment  of  boys,  of  girls,  of  women,  of 
immigrants,  or  emploj'ment  in  special  industries  or  occupations. 

Section  9.  Sections  one  to  nine,  inclusive,  of  chapter  five  hundred 
and  fourteen  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  and  so 
much  of  chapter  three  hundred  and  seventy-one  of  the  acts  of  the  year 
nineteen  hundred  and  nine  as  gives  to  the  bureau  of  statistics  or  the  di- 
rector thereof  any  powers  or  duties  with  reference  to  free  employment 
offices,  are  hereby  repealed,  to  take  effect  on  the  first  day  of  September, 
in  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen. 


228  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


An  Act  relative  to  the  Office  of  Public  Defenders. 
Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

Section  1.  There  shall  annually  be  nominated  and  elected  a  public 
defender  for  each  district  in  which  a  district  attorney  is  nominated  and 
elected,  and  he  shall  be  nominated  and  elected  in  the  same  manner  in 
which  the  district  attorney  is  nominated  and  elected.  Each  public  de- 
fender so  elected  shall  serve  for  the  same  term  and  receive  the  same  com- 
pensation as  the  district  attorney  in  the  same  district,  and  shall  have 
authority  to  appoint  the  same  number  of  assistants,  if  there  be  any,  and 
to  expend  the  same  amount  for  clerical  services.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
said  public  defenders  and  their  assistants  to  represent  in  the  superior 
court  all  persons  od  trial  in  the  said  court  who  have  no  counsel  and  who 
desire  to  have  counsel,  and  the  said  public  defenders  may,  by  themselves 
or  their  assistants,  defend  any  person  on  trial  in  any  police,  municipal  or 
district  court  or  before  any  trial  justice,  if  they  deem  that  justice  so 
requires. 

Section  2.  Any  judge  of  the  superior  court  or  of  any  municipal, 
district  or  police  court  or  any  trial  justice  may  require  the  public  defender 
for  his  district  to  represent  and  defend  any  person  on  trial  before  him  in 
case  he  deems  such  representation  necessary,  in  justice  to  the  person 
accused. 

Section  3.  The  public  defenders  herein  provided  for  shall  be  nom- 
inated and  elected  in  the  current  year  at  the  same  time  and  manner  in 
which  the  district  attorneys  are  nominated  and  elected,  and  their  duties 
hereunder  shall  begin  upon  their  election  and  qualification. 

An  Act  relative  to  Persons,  Partnerships,  Associations  or  Cor- 
porations ENGAGED  IN  THE  BUSINESS  OF  FOREIGN  EXCHANGE  AND 
OF  RECEIVING  MONEY  ON  DEPOSIT. 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Section  one  of  chapter  four  hundred  and  eight  of  the 
acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  six,  as  amended  by  section  one  of 
chapter  three  hundred  and  seventy-seven  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen 
hundred  and  seven,  by  section  one  of  chapter  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  ten,  and  by  chapter 
one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen,  and  all  other  acts  in  amendment  thereto,  is  hereby  further 
amended  by  omitting  after  the  word  " corporations",  in  line  two,  the 
words:  —  now  or  hereafter  engaged  in  the  selling  of  steamship  or  railroad 
tickets  for  transportation  to  or  from  foreign  countries,  or  in  the  supply- 
ing of  laborers,  that,  in  conjunction  with  said  business,  —  and  after  the 
word  " country",  in  line  nineteen,  the  words:  —  If  any  person,  part- 
nership or  member  of  a  partnership,  or  any  association  or  corporation 
engaged  or  financially  interested  in  the  selling  of  tickets  or  supplying 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  229 

of  laborers  as  aforesaid  is  also  engaged  or  financially  interested  in  the 
business  of  receiving  deposits  of  money  as  aforesaid,  or  if  any  person, 
partnership  or  member  of  a  partnership,  or  any  association  or  corporation 
engaged  or  financially  interested  in  the  business  of  receiving  deposits 
of  money  as  aforesaid  is  also  engaged  or  financially  interested  in  the 
selling  of  tickets  or  supplying  of  laborers  as  aforesaid,  such  person,  part- 
nership, member  of  a  partnership,  association  or  corporation  shall  be  held 
to  be  subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  section,  under  whatever  name  or 
by  whatever  persons  the  said  business  of  selling  tickets  or  supplying 
laborers  or  the  said  business  of  receiving  deposits  is  carried  on,  —  and 
by  inserting  after  the  word  "sum",  in  the  twelfth  fine,  the  words:  —  not 
less  than  ten  thousand  dollars,  —  so  as  to  read  as  follows:  —  Section  1. 
All  persons,  partnerships,  associations  or  corporations  that  carry  on  the 
business  of  receiving  deposits  of  money  for  safe-keeping,  or  for  the  pur- 
pose of  transmitting  the  same,  or  equivalents  thereof,  to  foreign  countries, 
or  for  any  other  purpose,  shall,  before  entering  into  or  continuing  in  the 
said  business,  except  as  hereinafter  provided,  make,  execute  and  deliver 
a  bond  to  the  treasurer  and  receiver  general  in  such  sum,  not  less  than  ten 
thousand  dollars,  as  the  bank  commissioner  may  deem  necessary  to  cover 
money  or  deposits  received  for  the  aforesaid  purposes  by  such  persons, 
partnerships,  associations  or  corporations,  the  bond  to  be  conditioned 
upon  the  faithful  holding  and  repayment  of  the  money  deposited  as  afore- 
said, and  upon  the  faithful  holding  and  transmission  of  any  money,  or 
equivalent  thereof,  which  shall  be  delivered  to  them  for  transmission  to 
a  foreign  country,  and,  in  the  event  of  the  insolvency  or  bankruptcy  of 
the  principal,  upon  the  payment  of  the  full  amount  of  such  bond  to  the 
assignee,  receiver  or  trustee  of  the  principal,  as  the  case  may  require,  for 
the  benefit  of  such  persons  as  shall  deliver  money  to  said  principal  for 
safe-keeping  or  for  the  purpose  of  transmitting  the  same  to  a  foreign 
country. 
Section  2.    This  act  shall  take  effect  upon  its  passage. 


An  Act  relative  to  the  Investment  of  Deposits  taken  by  Certain 

Persons,  Partnerships,  Associations  or  Corporations. 
Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Every  person,  partnership,  association  or  corporation 
subject  to  the  provisions  of  chapter  four  hundred  and.  twenty-eight  of 
the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  five,  and  of  all  acts  in  addition 
thereto  or  in  amendment  thereof,  that  receives  deposits  of  money  for 
safe-keeping  shall  hereafter  invest  or  deposit  such  money  only  as  fol- 
lows:— 

First.  In  mortgages  of  real  estate  situated  in  this  commonwealth,  but 
not  more  than  fifty  per  cent  of  the  whole  amount  of  deposits  shall  be  so 
invested. 

Second.     In  those  securities  and  to  the  extent  prescribed  by  the  second, 


230  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

third,  fifth  and  sixth  clauses  of  section  sixty-eight  of  chapter  five  hundred 
and  ninety,  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  eight. 

Third.  In  the  stock  of  a  banking  association  situated  in  the  New 
England  states  and  incorporated  under  the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  or  in  the  stock  of  a  trust  company  incorporated  under  the  laws  of 
and  doing  business  within  this  commonwealth,  but  such  person,  partner- 
ship, association  or  corporation  shall  not  hold,  both  by  way  of  investment 
and  as  security  for  loans,  more  than  twenty  per  cent  of  its  deposits  in 
the  stock  of  such  associations  or  companies,  nor  in  any  one  such  associa- 
tion or  company  more  than  three  per  cent  of  its  deposits  in,  nor  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  nor  more  than  one  quarter  of  the 
capital  stock  of  such  association  or  company. 

Such  person,  partnership,  association  or  corporation  may  deposit  not 
more  than  twenty-five  per  cent  of  its  deposits  in  any  banking  association 
incorporated  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States  and  located  in  this 
commonwealth,  and  in  any  trust  company  incorporated  in  this  common- 
wealth; but  such  deposit  shall  not  in  any  case  exceed  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  nor  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  capital  stock  and  sur- 
plus fund  of  such  depositary.  The  total  deposits  so  made  shall  be  not  less 
than  twenty  per  cent  of  the  whole  amount  of  deposits  held  for  safe-keeping 
by  said  person,  partnership,  association  or  corporation. 

Fourth.  In  loans  of  the  classes  hereafter  described,  payable  and  to  be 
paid  or  renewed  at  a  time  not  exceeding  one  year  from  the  date  thereof; 
but  not  more  than  one  third  of  the  deposits  shall  be  so  invested,  nor  shall 
the  total  liabilities  to  such  corporation  of  a  person,  partnership,  associa- 
tion or  corporation  for  money  borrowed  upon  personal  security,  including 
in  the  liabilities  of  a  partnership  or  company  not  incorporated  the  liabili- 
ties of  the  several  members  thereof,  exceed  five  per  cent  of  such  deposits; 
but  said  limitations,  except  as  to  time  in  which  said  loans  shall  be  paid 
or  renewed,  shall  not  apply  to  loans  made  under  the  provisions  of  para- 
graph (2)  of  subdivision  e  of  this  clause. 

a.  A  note  which  is  the  joint  and  several  obligation  of  three  or  more 
responsible  citizens  of  this  commonwealth:  provided,  that  the  total 
liabilities  to  such  corporation  of  a  person,  partnership  or  association, 
for  money  borrowed  under  this  subdivision,  including  in  the  liabilities 
of  a  partnership  or  company  not  incorporated  the  liabilities  of  the  several 
members  thereof,  shall  not  exceed  one  per  cent  of  the  deposits  of  such 
corporatioD. 

b.  A  note,  with  one  or  more  substantial  sureties  or  endorsers:  (1) 
of  a  corporation  incorporated  in  this  commonwealth;  or  (2)  of  a  manu- 
facturing corporation  with  a  commission  house  as  surety  or  endorser: 
provided,  that  such  commission  house  is  incorporated  in  this  common- 
wealth, or  has  an  established  place  of  business  and  a  partner  resident 
therein;  or  (3)  of  an  association  or  corporation  at  least  one  half  of  the 
real  and  personal  property  of  which  is  located  within  the  New  England 
states:    provided,  that  at  least  one  such  surety  or  endorser  shall  be  a 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  231 

citizen  of  or  corporation  incorporated  in  this  commonwealth:  provided, 
that  no  such  loan  shall  be  made  or  renewed  unless  within  eighteen  months 
next  preceding  the  making  or  renewing  of  such  loan  an  examination  of 
the  affairs,  assets  and  liabilities  of  the  borrowing  corporation  or  association 
has  been  made,  at  the  expense  of  such  borrowing  corporation  or  asso- 
ciation, by  an  accountant  approved  by  the  commissioner.  The  report  of 
such  examination  shall  be  made  in  such  form  as  the  commissioner  may 
prescribe.  A  copy  of  the  report  certified  to  by  the  accountant  shall  be 
delivered  by  the  borrowing  corporation  or  association  to  the  savings  bank 
before  such  loan  or  a  renewal  thereof  is  made,  and  a  copy  so  certified  shall 
be  delivered  by  the  accountant  to  the  commissioner  within  thirty  days 
after  the  completion  of  said  examination. 

c.  A  bond  or  note  of  a  gas,  electric  light,  telephone  or  a  street  rail- 
way corporation  incorporated  or  doing  business  in  this  commonwealth 
and  subject  to  the  control  and  supervision  thereof:  provided,  that  the 
net  earnings  of  said  corporation,  after  payment  of  all  operating  expenses, 
taxes  and  interest,  as  reported  to,  and  according  to  the  requirements  of, 
the  proper  authorities  of  the  commonwealth,  have  been  in  each  of  the 
three  fiscal  years  next  preceding  the  making  or  renewing  of  such  loan 
equal  to  not  less  than  four  per  cent  on  all  its  capital  stock  outstanding 
in  each  of  said  years;  and  provided,  that  the  gross  earnings  of  said  cor- 
poration in  the  fiscal  year  next  preceding  the  making  or  renewing  of  such 
loan  have  been  not  less  than  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

d.  A  bond  or  note  issued,  assumed  or  guaranteed  by  endorsement  as 
to  both  principal  and  interest,  by  a  railroad  corporation  which  complies 
with  all  the  requirements  of  subdivision  b,  or  of  subdivision  e  preceding 
paragraph  five,  of  clause  third:  provided,  that  the  principal  of  such  bond 
or  note  described  in  either  this  or  the  preceding  subdivision  is  payable  at 
a  time  not  exceeding  one  year  after  the  date  of  investment  therein. 

e.  A  note  of  a  responsible  borrower  in  such  form  as  the  commissioner 
may  approve,  with  a  pledge  as  collateral  of:  — 

(1)  One  or  more  mortgages  of  real  estate  situated  in  this  common- 
wealth. 

(2)  Bonds  or  notes  authorized  for  investment  by  clauses  second,  third, 
fourth,  fifth  or  sixth  at  no  more  than  ninety  per  cent  of  the  market  value 
thereof,  at  any  time  while  such  note  is  held  by  such  corporation;  or 

(3)  Deposit  books  of  depositors  in  savings  banks  at  no  more  than  ninety 
per  cent  of  the  amount  of  deposits  shown  therein;  or 

(4)  Shares  of  railroad  corporations  described  in  subdivisions  a,  b 
or  e  of  clause  third  at  no  more  than  eighty  per  cent  of  the  market  value 
thereof,  at  any  time  while  such  note  is  held  by  such  corporation;  or 

(5)  Other  bonds,  notes  or  shares  of  corporations  or  associations  at  not 
more  than  eighty  per  cent  of  their  market  value. 

(6)  Policies  issued  by  life  insurance  companies,  approved  by  the 
bank  commissioner  and  properly  assigned,  but  not  exceeding  ninety  per 
cent  of  the  cash  surrender  value  of  the  policies  assigned  as  security  for  the 
payment  of  such  loan. 


232  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

Fifth.  In  the  purchase  of  real  estate  situated  within  the  common- 
wealth, but  not  more  than  fifty  per  cent  of  the  whole  amount  of  deposits 
shall  be  so  invested. 

Section  2.  All  moneys  received  for  safe-keeping  prior  to  the  passage 
of  this  act,  which  are  otherwise  invested  or  deposited,  shall  be  invested 
or  deposited  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  this  act,  at  least  one 
third  part  before  the  first  day  of  January  in  each  year,  beginning  with 
the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  fifteen,  and  all  such  deposits  shall  be  so 
invested  or  deposited  before  the  first  day  of  January  in  the  year  nineteen 
hundred  and  seventeen. 

Section  3.  The  investments  and  deposits  made  in  accordance  with 
the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  held  as  solely  for  the  security  and  pay- 
ment of  the  moneys  received  for  safe-keeping,  and  shall  not  be  mingled 
with  the  investments  of  the  capital  or  other  money  or  property  in  the  hands 
of  or  belonging  to  any  such  person,  partnership,  association  or  corporation, 
or  be  liable  for  the  debts  or  obligations  thereof  until  after  the  deposits 
of  money  received  for  safe-keeping  have  been  paid  in  full.  The  accounts 
and  transactions  of  all  moneys  received  for  safe-keeping  shall  be  kept 
separate  and  distinct  from  any  other  business  transacted  by  any  such 
person,  partnership,  association  or  corporation. 

Section  4.    This  act  shall  take  effect  upon  its  passage. 

An  Act  to  promote  the  Enforcement  of  the  Laws  relative  to 
the  receiving  of  money  for  transmission  to  foreign  countries 
and  for  Other  Purposes. 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

Section  1.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  bank  commissioner  and  of  the 
head  of  the  police  department  in  cities  and  towns  to  enforce  the  pro- 
visions of  chapter  four  hundred  and  twenty-eight  of  the  acts  of  the  year 
nineteen  hundred  and  five,  and  of  all  acts  in  amendment  thereof  and  in 
addition  thereto,  relative  to  the  taking  of  deposits  by  certain  persons, 
firms  and  corporations  and  to  the  receiving  of  money  for  transmission  to 
foreign  countries  or  for  safe-keeping. 

Section  2.  The  bank  commissioner  shall  have  the  right,  by  him- 
self or  by  his  representatives,  to  examine  the  books  of  any  unlicensed 
person,  partnership,  association  or  corporation  which  he  has  reason  to 
believe  is  engaged  in  any  business  to  which  the  provisions  of  the  acts 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  section,  or  in  chapter  three  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  ten  and  of  the 
amendments  thereof,  apply. 

Section  3.  The  bank  commissioner  may  apply  to  the  superior  court 
for  the  county  in  which  any  such  person,  partnership,  association  or  cor- 
poration is  carrying  on  business  for  an  injunction  to  restrain  such  person, 
partnership,  association  or  corporation  from  carrying  on  the  said  business, 
and  may  petition  the  court  for  the  appointment  of  a  receiver  for  such 
person,  partnership,  association  or  corporation;  and  if  such  person,  part- 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  233 

nership,  association  or  corporation  is  found  by  the  court  to  be  acting  in 
violation  of  any  provision  of  any  of  the  laws  above  mentioned,  an  in- 
junction shall  be  granted  and  a  receiver  appointed. 

An  Act  relative  to  Money  received  for  Transmission  to  Foreign 

Countries. 
Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

Section  1.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  any  person,  partnership,  associa- 
tion or  corporation  to  which  the  provisions  of  chapter  four  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  of  the  acts  of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  five,  or  of  any 
act  in  addition  thereto  or  in  amendment  thereof,  apply,  and  which  re- 
ceives money  for  transmission  to  foreign  countries,  to  forward  the  same, 
or  its  equivalent,  within  five  days  after  it  is  received;  and  in  case  any 
proceeding  is  brought  against  any  such  person,  partnership,  association 
or  corporation  for  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  section,  the  burden 
of  proof  that  the  money  or  its  equivalent  was  forwarded  within  the  said 
five  days  shall  be  upon  the  licensee. 

Section  2.  Violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  punished 
by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars  nor  more  than  one  thousand 
dollars. 

An  Act  to  establish  a  State  Board  of  Immigration. 
Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  as  follows: 

Section  1.  The  governor,  with  the  consent  of  the  council,  shall,  within 
thirty  days  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  appoint  a  state  board  of  immigra- 
tion consisting  of  five  persons  who  shall  serve  without  compensation. 
It  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  board  to  carry  into  effect,  so  far  as  it  shall 
deem  practicable  and  expedient,  the  recommendations  of  the  commission 
on  immigration  appointed  in  pursuance  of  chapter  seventy-seven,  acts 
of  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  thirteeD,  pertaining  to  the  establish- 
ment of  this  board,  and  such  other  measures  as  it  may  deem  expedient 
within  the  intent  of  this  act.  It  shall  have  the  power  to  co-operate  with 
other  state  commissions,  boards  and  bureaus,  and  all  public  and  private 
agencies,  federal,  state  or  municipal,  for  the  furtherance  of  the  objects  for 
which  it  is  created.  It  shall  have  authority  to  require  the  attendance 
of  persons  and  the  production  of  papers  respecting  all  matters  pertaining 
to  the  purposes  of  this  act. 

Section  2.  The  said  board  shall  have  power  to  appoint  an  executive 
secretary  and  such  assistants,  clerical  or  other,  as  may  be  required  for  the 
proper  performance  of  its  duties.  The  compensation  of  the  said  executive 
secretary  shall  be  fixed  by  the  board,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
governor  and  council,  and  the  board  may  expend  annualljr  for  the  com- 
pensation of  its  assistants,  including  the  executive  secretary,  for  the  con- 
duct of  its  branch  offices,  and  for  its  necessary  traveling  and  other  expen- 
a  sum  not  exceeding  twenty  thousand  dollars. 


234  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


PART  III. 


Appendix   A. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  INVESTIGATIONS   OF  THE  COM- 
MISSION. 

Frequent  reference  has  been  made  in  the  report  to  the  in- 
vestigations of  the  commission,  and  it  has  seemed  worth  while 
to  include  in  the  form  of  an  appendix  a  more  exact  statement 
regarding  the  methods  used.  It  has  also  seemed  worth  while 
to  include  in  this  appendix  certain  tables  which  were  prepared 
from  the  schedules,  but  which  were  not  used  in  the  report. 
The  schedules  used  in  each  of  these  investigations  will  be  found 
in  Appendix  B. 

The  commission  made  three  general  investigations.  These 
were:  (1)  A  study  of  the  foreign-born  population  in  12  cities 
and  towns  in  different  parts  of  the  State.  Personal  history 
schedules  were  used  and  1,224  of  these  schedules  were  secured. 
(2)  An  inquiry  into  the  provision  made  by  the  public  schools  for 
the  education  of  the  immigrant,  with  special  reference  to 
evening  schools.  For  the  purpose  of  this  inquiry,  day-school 
and  evening-school  schedules  were  sent  to  all  the  school  super- 
intendents throughout  the  State,  and  replies  were  received  from 
343  out  of  the  353  cities  and  towns  of  the  State.  (3)  An  inquiry 
into  the  relation  of  the  employer  to  the  immigrant.  For  this 
purpose  employers'  schedules  were  sent  to  all  manufacturers 
in  20  of  the  principal  immigrant-employing  industries  of  the 
State,  and  more  than  two-thirds  of  these  were  returned. 

In  addition  to  these  main  lines  of  inquiry  special  investiga- 
tions were  made  of  those  agencies  and  offices  that  were  reported 
to  be  exploiting  the  recently  arrived  immigrant.  As  these  special 
investigations  have  been  described  in  different  chapters  of  the 
report,  no  further  mention  need  be  made  of  them  here. 

The  commission  employed  as  regular  investigators  Helen 
Campbell,  now  with  the  Industrial  Relations  Commission, 
Samuel  M.  Auerbach,  now  with  the  Bureau  of  Industries  and 
Immigration  of  New  York,   and   Michael  J.   Racioppi.     Special 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  235 

investigators  used  in  important  parts  of  the  work  were  Bernard 
J.  Sheridan,  Bertha  M.  Lieb,  Jane  Stone  and  Helen  R.  Wright. 
Other  special  investigators,  interpreters  and  clerical  assistants 
were   employed    for  short  periods  of  time. 

The  commission  was  assisted  in  its  work  by  the  North  Ameri- 
can Civic  League  for  Immigrants,  by  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  and  by  the  various  social  agencies  in  the  cities  where 
the  investigators  worked.  Acknowledgment  is  also  due  to  the 
Director  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  the  Census,  and  to  the 
United  States  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration  for  furnish- 
ing the  commission  with  statistical  data  in  advance  of  pub- 
lication. 

Investigation  of  the  Social  and  Industrial  History  of  Representa- 
tive Immigrants. 

The  report  of  the  commission  is  based  in  part  upon  an  in- 
vestigation made  by  means  of  personal  interviews  with  1,224 
immigrants  living  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  of  wrhom  1,059 
were  men  and  165  women.  Of  these  immigrants  750  were  heads 
of  households;  the  other  474  were  either  lodgers  or  members 
of  non-family  groups.  In  the  775  different  households  visited, 
4,961  persons  were  living.  In  so  far,  therefore,  as  the  informa- 
tion gathered  deals  wTith  general  housing  conditions,  it  applies 
not  to  1,224  but  to  nearly  5,000  persons. 

In  choosing  the  communities  for  this  investigation,  great  care 
was  taken  to  select  cities  and  towns  a  study  of  which  would 
represent  so  far  as  possible  the  varying  conditions  under  which 
the  immigrant  lives  and  works  in  Massachusetts.  The  com- 
mission had  in  mind  the  necessity  of  choosing  cities  and  towns 
which  were  located  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  which  were 
of  different  sizes  and  which  had  different  industrial  conditions. 
For  these  reasons  it  was  decided  to  carry  on  the  investigation  in 
eleven  cities  and  towns  in  addition  to  Boston.  Four  large  cities 
were  selected,  —  Fall  River,  Lynn,  Springfield  and  Worcester,  — 
all  of  which  had  in  1910  a  population  of  more  than  S8,000.  In 
the  next  group,  that  of  cities  having  a  population  of  over  20,000, 
were  Chicopee,  Maiden  and  North  Adams.  In  addition  to  tin 
the  investigation  was  carried  into  four  small  towns,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  less  than  10,000,  —  Ipswich,  Muynard,  Northbridge  and 
Ware.  It  will  be  noticed  that  in  each  group  there  is  at  least 
one  city  in  the  western  part  of  the  State.  It  will  also  be  noticed 
that  in  so  far  as  possible  cities  have  been  chosen  where  different 


236 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


industrial  conditions  prevail:  Lynn  is  typical  of  the  shoe  cities; 
Fall  River  of  the  cotton  textile  cities;  while  Springfield  and 
^Yorcester  are  cities  of  many  industries.  Among  the  small 
towns  several  of  the  chief  immigrant-employing  industries  are 
represented.  In  Ipswich  most  of  the  immigrants  are  employed 
in  a  hosiery  mill;  in  Maynard  in  a  woolen  mill;  in  North- 
bridge  in  a  cotton-machine  factory,  or  in  smaller  cotton  mills; 
in  Ware  in  a  cotton  mill,  or  to  some  extent  in  smaller  woolen 
mills. 

The  population  of  each  of  these  cities  and  towns,  together 
with  the  per  cent  of  foreign-born  or  native-born  of  foreign  or 
mixed  parentage,  according  to  the  United  States  Census  of  1910, 
is  given  below:  — 

Table  I.  —  Population  of  Selected  Cities  and  Towns,  together  with  Per  Cent 
of  Foreign-born  or  Native-born  of  Foreign  or  Mixed  Parentage,  1910. x 


Total 
Population. 

Per  Cent 
Foreign-born 
or  Native- 
born  of 
Foreign  or 

Mixed 
Parentage. 

Boston, 
Fall  River,  . 
Lynn,  . 
Springfield, 
Worcester,    . 
Chicopee,     . 
Maiden, 
North  Adams, 
Ipswich, 
Maynard, 
Northbridge, 
Ware,    . 

■     • 

670,585 

119,295 

89,336 

88,926 

145,986 

25,401 

44,404 

22,019 

5.777 

6,390 

8,807 

8,774' 

74.2 
86.3 
61.9 
58.1 
70.7 
81.7 
65.9 
66.5 
62.1 
84.9 
78.6 
77.8 

In  each  of  these  cities,  with  the  exception  of  Boston,  the 
investigator  made  a  general  community  survey  before  attemp- 
ting the  task  of  getting  personal  histories  from  the  immigrants. 
The  survey  included  a  study  of  the  religious  and  educational 
institutions;  of  the  social  agencies  at  wrork  among  the  immi- 
grants; of  the  mutual  aid  societies;  of  the  courts  and  of  the 
industries.      A    more    detailed    study    was    made   of    the    foreign 


«   V.  8.  Thirteenth  Census  (1910),  Vol.  II,  Population,  pp.  880,  S82,  Table  II. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  Xo.  2300.  237 

neighborhoods,  —  their  locality,  the  condition  of  their  streets  and 
the  character  of  their  housing.  From  all  the  persons  interviewed 
in  the  making  of  this  preliminary  survey,  the  investigator  at- 
tempted to  learn  the  conditions  in  these  foreign  neighborhoods, 
so  as  to  choose  wisely  the  blocks  or  tenements  that  were  to  be 
canvassed.  The  short  allowance  of  time,  of  course,  made  an 
extensive  investigation  of  each  city  and  town  impossible.  It  is 
believed,  however,  that  the  districts  chosen  reveal  conditions 
typical  of  those  under  which  the  newly  arrived  immigrant  lives. 

The  commission  here,  as  elsewhere,  confined  itself  to  a  study 
of  immigrants  of  non-English  speaking  nationalities,  and  in  so 
far  as  possible  to  those  who  had  been  in  this  country  less  than 
ten  years.  Since  the  canvass,  however,  was  made  by  blocks 
or  b}'  tenements,  never  by  individuals,  350,  or  28.6  per  cent, 
of  the  total  1,224  individuals  interviewed  had  been  in  this 
country  ten  years  or  over,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  districts 
were  selected  where  the  majority  of  immigrants  were  compara- 
tively recent  arrivals.  Because  of  the  fact  that  the  investigation 
was  confined  chiefly  to  immigrants  who  had  not  been  long  in 
this  country,  fewer  schedules  were  obtained  from  certain  na- 
tionalities, notably  the  French-Canadians,  than  might  have  been 
expected  from  a  study  of  the  number  living  in  Massachusetts  and 
employed  in  the  mills  of  the  State. 

In  Boston  it  was  decided,  after  consultation  with  various  per- 
sons familiar  with  the  neighborhoods,  to  cover  so  far  as  possible 
the  territory  canvassed  in  1910  for  the  Boston  1915  Housing  Re- 
port. In  the  West  End  the  block  bounded  by  Brighton,  Milton, 
Poplar  and  Spring  streets  was  chosen  for  a  recanvass.  Now,  as 
in  1910,  the  population  was  found  to  be  almost  exclusively 
Jewish.  Both  the  North  End  blocks  covered  by  the  Boston  1915 
investigation  were  visited.  One  of  these,  bounded  by  Margaret 
Street,  Prince  Street,  Snowhill  Street  and  Cleveland  Place,  is 
almost  entirely  Italian;  in  the  other,  bounded  by  Salem,  Still- 
man,  Morton  and  Endicott  streets,  are  Poles  and  Russian  Jew-, 
as  well  as  Italians.  In  the  South  End  it  was  not  found  practi- 
cable to  follow  the  earlier  study  so  completely.  The  Boston 
1915  investigation  covered  the  block  bounded  by  Albany,  Knee- 
land,  Hudson  and  Harvard  streets;  only  the  Hudson  Streel  side 
of  the  block  was  revisited.  Schedules  were  also  obtained  from 
twenty-three  Greeks  living  on  or  near  Curve  Street;  and  an  ad- 
ditional investigation  was  made  by  one  of  the  residents  of  South 
End  House  of  the  Russian  Jews  living  on  Laconia  Street.     In 


238  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

South  Boston  schedules  were  obtained  from  the  Poles  and  the 
Lithuanians  living  on  Athens  Street,  in  the  blocks  covered  by 
the  earlier  investigation,  and  the  canvass  was  extended  to  some 
typical  tenements  in  the  midst  of  the  Polish  and  Lithuanian 
settlements  in  West  Second  and  Kemp  streets. 

Outside  of  Boston,  the  plan  was,  in  general,  to  obtain  informa- 
tion from  about  100  individuals  in  the  larger  cities  and  50  in 
the  smaller  cities  or  towns.  The  head  of  the  family  was  always 
interviewed,  and,  whenever  possible,  schedules  were  also  ob- 
tained from  both  men  and  women  lodgers.  In  addition,  a  number 
of  non-family  groups  were  visited,  especially  among  the  Armenians, 
Greeks  and  Turks.  Among  certain  nationalities  in  some  localities 
there  was  a  reluctance  to  answer  the  questions.  In  no  case  did 
the  investigator  attempt  to  force  an  answer,  as  it  was  believed 
that  facts  so  obtained  would  be  of  little  value  in  an  investiga- 
tion of  this  kind. 

In  order  to  ascertain  as  accurately  as  possible  not  only  the 
actual  facts  concerning  the  individual's  life  and  work,  but  less 
definite  information,  such  as  his  motive  for  coming  to  the 
United  States  and  his  reason  for  desiring  a  certain  kind  of  work, 
the  investigator  always  interviewed  the  man  himself  instead 
of  taking  a  story  second-hand  from  his  wife  or  son.  Except 
in  cases  where  the  immigrant  spoke  English  with  ease  the  con- 
versation was  carried  on  in  his  own  language.  Occasionally  it 
was  necessary  to  use  an  interpreter,  but,  foreign-speaking  in- 
vestigators were  employed,  so  that,  as  a  rule,  the  investigator  him- 
self was  able  to  talk  with  the  man. 

The  decision  concerning  the  number  of  schedules  to  be  ob- 
tained from  each  nationality  was  based  on  the  census  statistics 
showing  the  proportion  of  the  principal  non-English  speaking 
nationalities  in  each  community.  Consideration,  however,  was 
given  to  the  fact  that  the  importance  of  a  nationality  may  be 
out  of  proportion  to  its  numbers;  to  the  length  of  residence, 
as  already  pointed  out;  to  particularly  interesting  housing  or 
industrial  conditions;  and  to  rapidly  increasing  numbers.  The 
nationality  of  the  persons  interviewed  in  each  town  and  city  is 
given  in  the  following  table:  — 


1914.] 


HOUSE  — No.  2300. 


239 


Table  II.  —  Nationality  of  1,22/f.  Immigrants  for  Whom  Personal  History 
Schedules  were  obtained,  together  with  City  or  Town  of  Residence. 


a 
S 

m 

O 

s 

a 

o 
u 

IS 

6 
> 

"3 

CD 

a 

a 
a 
>> 

c 
5 
-3 

-6 
c 

e3 

a 

>> 

r. 

03 

s 

Oj 

< 

a 
c 

o 

■ 

B 

JO 
^3 
«a 
E 

o 

2 

se 

C 

a 

6 

1 

S 

r. 

I 

E 
O 

- 

C 

Armenian,    . 

Canadian,  French 

Dutch, 

Finnish, 

German, 

Greek, 

Italian, 

Jewish, 

Lithuanian, 

Polish, 

Portuguese, 

Russian, 

Ruthenian,  . 

Scandinavian, 

Syrian, 

Turkish, 

. 

23 

83 

115 

53 

48 

50 

11 
10 
29 

21 

9 
6 

11 
42 

4 

5 

28 

18 
6 

4 

17 
27 
25 
17 
18 

5 

14 
31 

24 

4 
4 
3 

8 

3 
4 

13 

7 

24 

17 

1 

18 

2 
17 

16 
12 

7 

10 

3 

1 

1 

5 
5 

7 
30 
36 

9 

2 
6 

5 

14 

4 

31 

13        39 

5  86 

7 

6  30 
-     •     7 

13        98 
20       211 
20       254 

15  93 
12       212 

48 

2  |        9 

17 

10  '       15 

9         81 

16  17 

Total,     . 

372 

50 

93 

61 

104 

50 

50 

99 

50 

105 

49 

141     1,224 

Of  the  1,224  immigrants  for  whom  personal  history  schedules 
were  obtained,  the  occupation  before  coming  to  this  country  is 
given  for  1,116.  Most  of  the  others  had  not  been  engaged  in 
any  gainful  occupation  in  their  home  country,  the  men,  in  most 
cases,  because  of  youth,  the  women  because  they  were  married 
and  keeping  house.  In  the  following  table  the  occupation  before 
coming  to  this  country  is  given  for  the  1,116  immigrants  for 
whom  information  is  available.  Attention  is  called  to  the  fact 
that  528,  or  47.3  per  cent,  were  farmers  or  farm  laborers  before 
coming  to  this  country,  while  only  32,  or  2.9  per  cent,  were  employed 
in  factories.  Later  tables  show  that  in  the  United  States  only 
1.4  per  cent  of  these  immigrant  men  are  engaged  in  agricultural 
pursuits,  while  57.6  per  cent  are  employed  in  manufacturing  es- 
tablishments. 


240 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Table  III.  —  Occupation  before  coming  to  this  Country  of  1,116  Immigrants. 


Occupation. 

Male. 

Female. 

Total. 

Farmers  and  farm  laborers,           .... 

463 

65 

528 

Shoemakers  and  cobblers,     . 

61 

1 

62 

Merchants  and  salesmen, 

58 

4 

62 

Laborers 

53 

- 

53 

Tailors 

42 

l 

43 

Carpenters,    . 

37 

- 

37 

Factory  workers,    . 

30 

2 

32 

Blacksmiths  and  machinists, 

22 

- 

22 

Domestic  servants, 

1 

21 

22 

Clerks  and  bookkeepers, 

15 

- 

15 

Dressmakers, 

- 

12 

12 

Miscellaneous, 

221 

7 

228 

Total, 

1,003 

113 

1,116 

Of  the  1,059  immigrant  men  for  whom  personal  history 
schedules  were  obtained.  1,031  were  employed  at  the  time  they 
were  interviewed,  and  from  them  information  as  to  their  occupa- 
tion and  earnings  was  secured.  These  1,031  immigrants  were 
employed  in  so  many  different  occupations  that  numbers  in  any 
one  are  too  small  to  warrant  conclusions  as  to  the  wages  of  immi- 
grants, and  so  the  following  tables  have  not  been  discussed  in 
the  report.  In  the  first  table  the  general  classification  of  occupa- 
tions used  by  the  United  States  Census  is  given.  In  the  second 
table  the  594  immigrants  engaged  in  manufacturing  are  grouped 
by  the  industries  in  which  they  were  employed.  The  weekly 
wage  is  the  amount  which  the  immigrant  reports  that  he  is 
receiving  for  a  full  week's  work,  and  is  thus  in  many  instances 
an  overstatement  of  his  actual  weekly  income. 


Table  IV.  —  Occupation  and  Weekly  Wage  of  Immigrant  Men  for  Whom 
Personal  History  Schedules  were  obtained. 


Occupation. 

Total. 

| 

Weekly  Wage. 

Agri- 
culture. 

Profes- 
sional 
Service. 

Domes- 
tic and 

Personal 
Service. 

Trade 

and 
Trans- 
porta- 
tion. 

Manu- 
facturing 
and  Me- 
chanical 

In- 
dustries. 

Cumu- 
lative 
Per 
Cent. 

Less  than  $6, 
$6  and  less  than  $8,    . 
$8  and  less  than  $10,  . 
$10  and  less  than  $12, 
$12  and  less  than  $15, 
$15  and  less  than  $20, 
|20  and  over, 

1 
3 
4 
2 

2 

1 
1 

8 
10 
11 
13 
25 
8 
5 

8 
21 
11 
47 
59 
33 
19 

8 
68 
203 
124 
147 
102 
21 

24 
102 
228 
188 
234 
144 

45 

2.5 
13.1 
36.7 
56.2 
80.4 
95.3 

4.7 

Total, 
Wage  not  reported,    . 

10                 4 
4                  3 

80 
3 

198 
40 

673 
16 

965 
66 

100.0 

Grand  total, 

14 

7 

83 

238 

689 

.    1,031 

- 

1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


241 


Table  V.  —  Industries  and  Weekly  Wage  of  594  Immigrant  Men  employed 
in  Manufacturing  for  Whom  Personal  History  Schedules  were  obtained. 


Industries. 

TJ 

■ 

A 

.23 

a 

u 

3 

h 

a 

03  OS 

5  o 

1 

so 

•4J 

d 

■ 
U 

Weekly  Wage. 

i  i 
If 

a 

oj 

3 

o 

> 

3 

< 

s 

8 

PQ 

M 

a  . 

"3   03 

o.9 
O 

a 

"O  Q. 

O  "» 
fa 

u 

.2 
'S 
o 

w 

3 

3 

a 
■ 

1 

si 

o 

i 

o 
H 

3 
E 

3 

o 

Less  than  $6, 

2 

2 

i 

1 

- 

_ 

2 

8 

1.4 

$6  and  less  than  $8,    . 

- 

7 

1 

36 

6 

5 

5 

8 

68 

13.0 

$8  and  less  than  $10.  . 

2 

12 

4 

54 

43 

12 

5 

23 

43 

198 

46.8 

$10  and  less  than  $12, 

2 

7 

9 

23 

28 

7 

6 

10 

22 

114 

66.2 

$12  and  less  than  $15, 

2 

11 

12 

9 

36 

1 

3 

1 

25 

100 

83.3 

$15  and  less  than  $20, 

11 

5 

22 

6 

21 

2 

4 

- 

15 

86 

98.0 

$20  and  over, 

- 

2 

3 

- 

1 

- 

1 

2 

3 

12 

2.0 

Total, 

17 

46 

53 

129 

136 

27 

19 

41 

118 

586 

100.0 

Wage  not  reported,    . 

- 

- 

2 

- 

5 

- 

1 

- 

- 

8 

- 

Grand  total, 

17 

46 

55 

129 

141 

27 

20 

41 

118 

594 

- 

Of  the  165  immigrant  women  for  whom  personal  histories 
were  obtained,  20  were  not  employed  at  the  time  the  investi- 
gation was  made,  and  5  others  did  not  report  on  their  occupation 
and  wages.  Of  the  140  from  whom  information  on  these  points 
was  obtained,  110  were  working  in  factories.  Facts  concerning 
wages  and  occupations  were  also  available  in  60  cases  from 
wage-earning  wives  of  men  whose  histories  were  taken;  56  of 
the  60  were  engaged  in  factory  work.  The  following  table  gives 
the  weekly  wage  of  the  166  women  employed  in  manufacturing 
establishments:  — 


Table  VI.  —  Weekly  Wage  of  166  Women  employed  in  Manufacturing, 


Weekly  Wage. 

Number  of 
Women. 

Cumulative 
Per  Cent. 

Less  than  $5, 
$5  and  less  than  $6, 
$6  and  lass  than  $7, 
$7  and  less  than  $8, 
$8  and  less  than  $9, 
$9  and  less  than  $10,     . 
$10  and  less  than  $11,  . 
$11  and  less  than  $12,  . 
$12  and  over, 

14 
25 
26 
37 
29 
13 
16 
3 
3 

8.4 
23.5 

61.5 
79.0 
86.8 
96.4 
98.2 
1.8 

Total,     . 

166 

100.0 

242 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


The  immigrants  whose  personal  histories  were  obtained  were 
living  in  775  houses  or  apartments.  The  size  of  these  apartments 
and  the  crowded  condition  of  many  of  them  are  shown  by  the 
following  table,  which  gives  the  number  of  rooms  in  the  apart- 
ment, together  with  the  number  of  persons  in  the  household :  — 


Table  VII.  —  Number  of  Persons  in  Households  occupying  Apartments 
with  Specified  Number  of  Rooms. 


Number  of  Persons 

NUMBEB 

of  Apartments  having 

— 

Total 

in  Household. 

1 

2 

3 

4          5 

6 

7 

8  or  more 

Apart- 
ments. 

room. 

rooms. 

rooms. 

rooms,  rooms. 

rooms 

rooms. 

rooms. 

1, 

4 

2 

1 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

7 

2 

5 

13 

10 

10 

4 

2 

1 

- 

45 

3 

1 

16 

25 

17 

16 

2 

3 

- 

80 

4, 

- 

8 

36 

31 

25 

4 

2 

- 

105 

5, 

- 

4 

23 

35 

28 

11 

4 

1 

106 

6 

- 

2 

22 

36 

27 

12 

2 

5 

106 

7. 

- 

- 

16 

22 

29 

9 

3 

3 

82 

8 

- 

- 

13 

30 

27 

12 

4 

4 

90 

9, 

- 

1 

3 

21 

13 

9 

2 

1 

50 

10, 

- 

- 

4 

10 

8 

8 

1 

2 

33 

11. 

- 

- 

- 

2 

5 

8 

- 

1 

16 

12 

- 

- 

- 

2 

5 

5 

- 

- 

12 

13, 

- 

1 

- 

- 

5 

2 

- 

3 

11 

14 

- 

- 

- 

1 

2 

1 

- 

2 

6 

15  or  more, 

- 

1 

- 

- 

2 

1 

4 

14 

22 

Total 

10 

48 

153 

217 

196 

86 

26 

36 

772i 

Of  the  775  households  studied,  25  were  groups  of  non-family 
men  and  women.  The  following  tables  show  for  the  other  750 
households  the  number  of  each  nationality  who  kept  lodgers  and 
the  number  of  lodgers  in  each  household :  — 

1  No  report  was  made  as  to  the  number  of  rooms  in  three  apartments. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


243 


Table  VIII.  —  Number  of  Households  keeping  Lodgers  by  Nationality  of 

Head  of  Household. 


Xatioxalitt  of  Head  of  Household. 


Number  of 
Total  Number  i     Households 
of  Households. ',        keeping 
Lodgers. 


Armenian,    . 
Canadian,  French, 
Danish, 
Dutch, 
Finnish, 
German, 
Greek, 
Italian, 
Jewish, 
Lithuanian, 
Norwegian, 
Polish, 
Portuguese, 
Russian, 
Ruthenian, 
Swedish, 
Syrian, 
Total, 


Table  IX.  —  Number  and  Per  Cent  of  Households  keeping  a  Specified 

Number  of  Lodgers. 


Households. 


Number. 


Per  Cent 

of  Total 

Households. 


Households  keeping  no  lodgers, 
Households  keeping  1  lodger, 
Households  keeping  2  lodgers, 
Households  keeping  3  lodgers, 
Households  keeping  4  lodgers, 
Households  keeping  5  lodgers, 
Households  keeping  6  lodgers, 
Households  keeping  7  lodgers. 
Households  keeping  8  lodgers, 
Households  keeping  9  lodgers, 
Households  keeping  10  or  more  lodgers, 
Total  number  of  households, 


244  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

The  questions  asked  on  the  schedules  were  grouped  in  several 
main  divisions:  (1)  miscellaneous  information  concerning  age, 
birthplace,  length  of  residence,  etc.;  (2)  industrial  history  in 
Europe  and  in  the  United  States;  (3)  education  and  naturaliza- 
tion; (4)  living  conditions;  (5)  economic  conditions;  (6)  informa- 
tion concerning  the  family  —  wife  and  children;  (7)  exploitation 
on  or  since  arrival  in  this  country.  The  answers  given  to  these 
questions  were  tabulated  and  the  results  used  in  the  various  sec- 
tions of  the  report. 

School  Investigation. 

As  a  basis  of  its  investigation  into  the  educational  opportunities 
for  the  immigrant  the  commission  sent  schedules  to  every  school 
superintendent  in  the  State  early  in  September.  One  of  the 
schedules,  sent  to  all  superintendents,  inquired  concerning  the 
nationality  of  the  day-school  pupils,  and  the  adaptation  of  the 
work  to  the  needs  of  the  foreign-born.  This  schedule  was  filled 
out  and  returned  for  343  cities  and  towns  out  of  a  total  of  353. 
A  second  schedule,  sent  to  the  superintendents  in  cities  and  towns 
that  had  maintained  an  evening  school  during  1912-1913,  asked 
for  full  information  concerning  the  work  of  the  evening  schools. 
Replies  were  received  from  68  of  the  70  cities  and  towns  main- 
taining evening  schools.  A  third  schedule,  sent  to  the  superin- 
tendents in  those  towns  where  no  public  evening  school  was 
held,  dealt  with  the  question  of  the  need  for  an  evening  school. 
This  third  schedule  was  filled  out  for  273  towns  out  of  the 
283  where  there  was  no  evening  school.  The  returns,  therefore, 
are  nearly  complete  for  cities  and  towns  of  varying  sizes  in  every 
part  of  the  State. 

The  information  from  these  schedules  was  supplemented  by 
the  answers  to  the  educational  questions  from  the  personal  his- 
tory and  factory  schedules,  by  the  testimony  at  the  public 
hearings  of  the  commission,  by  conferences  with  members  of  the 
State  Board  of  Education,  and  with  superintendents  of  schools 
from  all  parts  of  the  State,  and  by  a  special  investigation  of 
those  private  schools  in  which  only  a  part  of  the  work  is  con- 
ducted in  the  English  language.  The  information  thus  gained 
formed  the  basis  for  the  study  of  the  schools  in  relation  to  the 
immigrant  found  in  the  chapter  VI.  on  "Education." 

Investigation  of  the  Relation  of  the  Employer  to  the  Immigrant. 

In  order  to  secure  data  with  reference  to  the  relation  ofAthe 
immigrant  to  the  "industrial  condition  of  the  people  of  the 
Commonwealth,"  the  commission  sent  a  schedule  of  questionsAto 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


245 


approximately  2,350  manufacturers  in  20  of  the  principal  immi- 
grant-employing industries  of  the  State.  Replies  were  received 
from  1,617  employers.  The  answers  of  400  of  these  were  dis- 
carded, in  79  cases  because  the  establishments  had  gone  out  of 
business,  and  in  321  cases  because  they  did  not  give  sufficient 
information  to  make  them  valuable  for  tabulation.  Since  in 
nearly  every  case  these  manufacturers  employed  little  or  no  immi- 
grant labor,  the  commission  did  not  attempt  to  secure  more 
complete  replies,  but  used  the  material  from  the  answers  of  the 
1,217  employers  who  gave  more  definite  information. 

The  following  table  gives  the  number  of  establishments  in  the 
industries  to  which  schedules  were  sent  and  the  number  of  usable 
replies  received  from  each:  — 


Table  X.  —  Number  of  Establishments  in  Twenty  Selected  Industries,  with 
Number  of  Schedules  received  from  Each. 


Industry. 

Number  of 
Establish- 
ments in 
State,  1911.  i 

Number  of 
Schedules 
received. 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock  and  findings, 2 

Rubber  boots  and  shoes 

Rubber  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified),     . 

Cotton  goods, 

Cotton  small  wares, 

Dyeing  and  finishing  textiles,     . 
Foundry  and  machine  shops, 
Iron  and  steel,  steel  works  and  rolling  mills, 
Structural  iron  works,          .... 
Hosiery  and  knit  goods,      .... 

Jewelry, 

Leather  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified),     . 
Leather,  tan,  curried  and  finished,     . 
Paper  and  wood  pulp,         .... 
Paper  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 
Suspenders,  garters  and  clastic-woven  goods, 
Wooden  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified),     . 

Wool  scouring, 

Woolen  and  worsted  goods, 

464 

369 

8 

36 

164 
24 
50 

606 

6 

44 

56 

156 
41 

119 
92 
38 
33 
25 
10 

165 

210 

52 

5 

22 

127 
12 
36 

316 
5 
19 
33 
91 
14 
67 
45 
20 
16 
6 

114 

Total, 

2,506 

1,217 

1  Figures  from  Massachusetts  Statistics  of  Manufactures,  1911,  Bureau  of  Statistics. 

2  Schedules  were  sent  to  only  about  one-half  the  employers  in  the  boot  and  shoe  cut  stock  and 
findings  industry. 


246 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


The  average  number  of  employees  in  these  1,217  establish- 
ments and  the  number  under  twenty-one  years  of  age  are  given 
in  the  following  tables: 1  — 

Table  XI.  —  Average  Number  of  Male  and  Female  Employees  (All  Ages) 

in  1,196  Establishments. 


Industry. 


Male. 


Female. 


Total. 


Boots  and  shoes,    .... 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock  and  findings, 

Rubber  boots  and  shoes, 

Rubber  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Cotton  goods, 

Cotton  small  wares, 

Dyeing  and  finishing  textiles, 

Foundry  and  machine  shops, 

Iron  and  steel, 

Structural  iron  works,  . 

Hosiery  and  knit  goods, 

Jewelry, 

leather  goods, 

Leather,  tan,  curried  and  finished, 

Paper  and  wood  pulp,  . 

Paper  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Suspenders,  garters  and  elastic-woven  good 

Wooden  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Wool  scouring 

Woolen  and  worsted  goods,  . 

Total, 


33,571 

1,530 

4,074 

4,865 

50,718 

239 

6,103 

29,352 

10,350 

890 

2,885 

3,826 

178 

9,546 

8,757 

1,770 

85S 

82 

405 

27,410 


198,009 


17,864 

724 

2,764 

1,042 

43,722 

305 

1,592 

675 

3,000 

5 

7,000 

1,782 

219 

417 

3,773 

1,607 

1,479 

1 

27 

17,819 


105,817 


51,435 

2,254 

7,438 

5,907 

94,440 

544 

7,695 

30,027 

13,350 

895 

9,885 

5,608 

397 

9,963 

12,530 

3,377 

2,337 

83 

432 

45,229 


303,826 


1  Twenty-one  establishments  did  not  report  the  average  number  of  employees,  and  27  did  not 
report  the  number  of  employees  under  twenty-one  years  of  age. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  — No.  2300. 


247 


Table  XII.  —  Average  Number  of  Male  and  Female  Employees   Under 
Twenty -one  Years  of  Age  in  1,190  Establishments. 


Industry. 


Male. 


Female. 


Total. 


Boots  and  shoes,    .... 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock  and  findings, 

Rubber  boots  and  shoes, 

Rubber  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Cotton  goods, 

Cotton  small  wares, 

Dyeing  and  finishing  textiles, 

Foundry  and  machine  shops, 

Iron  and  steel, 

Structural  iron  works,  . 

Hosiery  and  knit  goods, 

Jewelry, 

Leather  goods, 

Leather,  tan,  curried  and  finished, 

Paper  and  wood  pulp,  . 

Paper  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Suspenders,  garters  and  elastic-woven  good 

Wooden  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Wool  scouring, 

Woolen  and  worsted  goods,  . 

Total, 


3, 


4,435 

301 

456 

552 

8,026 

46 

882 

2,778 

1,021 

43 

610 

583 

30 

746 

595 

307 

84 

8 

18 

4,244 


25,765 


29,050 


3,869 

8,304 

181 

482 

619 

1,075 

324 

876 

11,295 » 

19,321 

121 

167 

722 

1,604 

210 

2,988 

1,500 

2,521 

1 

44 

2,090 

2,700 

603 

1,186 

40 

70 

119 

865 

852 

1,447 

601 

908 

312 

396 

- 

8 

6 

24 

5,585 

9,829 

54,815 


The  manufacturers  reported  that  of  the  303,826  employees, 
180,347  were  of  foreign  birth.2  The  following  table  shows  the 
number  of  native  and  of  foreign-born  employees  in  each  in- 
dustry: — 

1  Includes  240  employees  of  one  factory  which  did  not  specify  the  sex  of  employees  under  twenty- 
one  years  of  age. 

2  Seventy-nine  establishments  did  not  give  statistics  of  nationality. 


248 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Table  XIII.  —  Number  of  Native-born  and  of  Foreign-bom  Employees 

by  Industries. 


Industry. 


Native- 
born. 


Foreign- 
born. 


Nativity 

not 
reported. 


Total. 


Boots  and  shoes,     .... 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock  and  findings, 

Rubber  boots  and  shoes, 

Rubber  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified) 

Cotton  goods,  .... 

Cotton  small  wares, 

Dj'eing  and  finishing  textiles, 

Foundry  and  machine  shops, 

Iron  and  steel,         .... 

Structural  iron  works,    . 

Hosiery  and  knit  goods, 

Jewelry, 

Leather  goods 

Leather,  tan,  curried  and  finished, 
Paper  and  wood  pulp,    . 
Paper  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 
Suspenders,  garters  and  elastic-woven  goods 
Wooden  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Wool  scouring, 

Woolen  and  worsted  goods,    . 

Total, 


29,886 

1,039 

2,066 

2,157 

22,955 

228 

3,001 

13,060 

4,561 

329 

5,063 

3,367 

285 

2,861 

6,055 

2,479 

1,563 

63 

77 

14,136 


115,231 


18,132 

1,140 

5,372 

3,750 

69,559 

316 

4,694 

14,783    J 

8,789 

566 

4,732 

2,111 

112 

7,058 

6,475 

869 

774 

20 

355 

30,740 


180,347 


3,417 
75 


1,926 

2,184 

90 
130 

44 

29 


353 


8.24S 


51,435 

2,254 

7,438 

5,907 

94,440 

544 

7,695 

30,027 

13,350 

895 

9,885 

5,608 

397 

9,963 

12,530 

3,377 

2,337 

83 

432 

45,229 


303,826 


The  nationality  of  the  foreign-born  employees  was  as  follows 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


249 


Table  XIV.  - 

-  Nationality  of  Foreign-born  Employees. 

Nation  vi.ity. 

Number. 

Per  Cent. 

Armenian, 

3,368 

1.9 

Brava,          .     .    . 

471 

.3 

British, 

20,740 

11.5 

Canadian,  French, 

30,020 

16.6 

Canadian,  Other, 

5,994 

3.3 

Finnish, 

1,574 

.9 

Greek, 

6,466 

3.6 

Irish,    . 

22,716 

12.5 

Italian, 

13,861 

7.7 

Jewish, 

3,626 

2.0 

Lithuanian, 

4,336 

2.4 

Polish, 

24,734 

13.7 

Portuguese, 

12,397 

6.9 

Russian, 

3,433 

1.9 

Scandinavian, 

. 

3,224 

1.8 

Syrian, 

2,163 

1.2 

Others, 

21,224 

11.8 

Total,    . 

180,347 

100.0 

250 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


The  following  tables  give  the  nationality  of  the  employees  in 
three  selected  industries :  — 

Table  XV.  —  Nationality  of  19,272  Foreign-born  Employees  in  the  Boot 
and  Shoe  Industry,  including  Cut  Stock  and  Findings. 


Nationality. 


Number. 


Per  Cent. 


Armenian,    . 

British, 

Canadian,  French, 

Canadian,  Other, 

Finnish, 

Greek, 

Irish,    . 

Italian, 

Jewish, 

Lithuanian, 

Polish, 

Portuguese, 

Russian, 

Scandinavian, 

Syrian, 

Others, 

Total,     . 


100.0 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


251 


Table  XVI.  —  Nationality  of  69,875  Foreign-born  Employees  in  the  Cotton- 
Goods  Industry,  including  Cotton  Small  Wares. 


Nationality. 

Number. 

Per  Cent. 

Armenian, 

493 

.7 

Brava, 

379 

.5 

British, 

10,097 

14.5 

Canadian,  French, 

15,116 

21.7 

Canadian,  Other, 

1,675 

2.4 

Finnish, 

556 

.8 

Greek, 

2,293 

3.3 

Irish,    . 

6,479 

9.3 

Italian, 

1,811 

2.6 

Jewish, 

449 

.6 

Lithuanian, 

762 

1.1 

Polish, 

13,445 

19.2 

Portuguese, 

10,100 

14.5 

Russian, 

802 

1.1 

Syrian, 

1,005 

1.4 

Others, 

4,413 

6.3 

Total,     . 

69,875 

100.0 

Table   XVII. 


Nationality  of  30,740  Foreign-born  Employees  in  the 
Woolen  and  Worsted  Goods  Industry. 


Nationality. 

Number. 

Per  Cent. 

Armenian, 

466 

1.5 

British, 

4,248 

13.8 

Canadian,  French, 

4,467 

14.5 

Canadian,  Other, 

325 

1.0 

Finnish, 

511 

1.7 

Greek, 

339 

1.1 

Irish,    . 

2,870 

9.3 

Italian, 

5,002 

16.3 

Jewish, 

2S0 

.9 

Lithuanian, 

730 

2  4 

Polish, 

3,754 

12.2 

Portuguese, 

251 

.S 

Russian, 

l.S 

Syrian, 

756 

2.5 

Others, 

6,187 

20.2 

Total,     . 

30,740 

100.0 

252 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


The  following  table  shows  that  503  establishments,  or  45  per 
cent  of  those  reporting  on  the  question,1  have  positions  that  can 
be  filled  by  unskilled  non-English  speaking  foreigners: 

Table  XVIII.  —  Number  of  Establishments  reporting  Positions  that  can 
be  filled   by    Unskilled   Non-English   Speaking   Foreigners. 


Industry. 


Having 
Positions. 


Not  having 
Positions. 


Total. 


Boots  and  shoes, 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock  and  findings, 
Rubber  boots  and  shoes,       .... 
Rubber  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Cotton  goods, 

Cotton  small  wares, 

Dyeing  and  finishing  textiles, 
Foundry  and  machine  shops, 

Iron  and  steel, 

Structural  iron  works,  .... 

Hosiery  and  knit  works,        .... 

Jewelry, 

Leather  goods, 

Leather,  tan,  curried  and  finished, 

Paper  and  wood  pulp, 

Paper  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 
Suspenders,  garters  and  elastic-woven  goods, 
Wooden  goods  (not  elsewhere  specified), 

Wool  scouring, 

Woolen  and  worsted  goods,  .... 
Total . 


55 

19 

2 

7 

89 
3 

23 
97 
4 
4 
9 
19 
3 

47 
33 
6 
2 
1 
5 
75 


503 


136 

28 

2 

15 

23 

9 

9 

201 

1 

13 
23 
64 
10 
12 
11 
14 
13 
5 
1 
23 


191 

47 

4 

22 

112 
12 
32 

298 

5 

17 

32 

83 

13 

59 

44 

20 

15 

6 

6 

98 


613 


1,116 


The  schedules  sent  out  by  the  commission  asked  not  only 
for  general  information  concerning  the  number  and  nationality 
of  the  employees,  but  for  the  opinion  of  the  manufacturers  on 
various  questions  concerning  the  employment  of  the  Southern 
and  Eastern  Europeans,  and  their  efficiency.  Several  questions 
were  also  asked  concerning  the  immigrant's  need  of  English  and 
possible  methods  of  increasing  his  efficiency  through  education. 
The  answers  to  these  questions  have  been  discussed  in  the  text 
in  the  chapters  on  "Education"  and  "The  Immigrant  in  In- 
dustry." 


1  One  hundred  and  one  establishments  did  not  report  on  this  question. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  — No.  2300. 


253 


Appendix  B. 


SCHEDULES  USED  IN  THE  INVESTIGATIONS   OF  THE 

COMMISSION. 

Personal  History  Schedule. 

MASSACHUSETTS   COMMISSION   ON   IMMIGRATION    1913 

Investigator 


Date 


SCHEDULE   NO.   I. 

(Married  man,  single  man  or  woman.) 


No 

City  or  town. 


rate 


1.   Name Address 

Birthplace Race Age Religion. 

Passage 

Paid  by  self  friends  or  relatives  in  U.  S.        borrowed 

Residence  in  United  States 

Total  no.  years  date  first  arrival  no.  visits  home 

Reason  for  coming 

Expect  to  remain?     (Reason) 


2.    Industrial  history:  Occupation  in  Europe 

Work  expected  or  hoped  for  in  United  States 

Reason 

Unemployed  after  arrival:  Days Months. 

Reason 


In  securing  following  industrial  history  begin    with  present    job   (a)    and    work 

backwards. 


Name  of  Firm. 

Industry. 

-  ■  ■ 

Exact 
Occupation. 

How 
secured. 

Wages  ; 

Payment. 

Piece. 

Time. 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

(d) 

(e) 

(f) 

(g) 

254 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Hours. 

Duration. 

Reason  for 
Change. 

Unemployed. 

From. 

To. 

Day  a. 

Weeks. 

Months. 

(a)    

(b) 

(c)    

(d)  

(e)    

(f)    

. 

(g)   

Work  accident: 


character 
member  of  trade  union 


compensation 


3.    Education  and  naturalization:  On  arrival 


illiterate       read  only       read  and  write 


primary  school 

Since  arrival 

day  school 


secondary  college  professional  or  technical 

where  how  long  night  school 


where               how  long               speak  English  now               read  and  write  English 
Reasons  for  failure  to  attend  at  all  or  continue  course 


Would  attend  under  what  conditions 

Naturalization: 

first  papers  final  papers 


cost  in  addition  to  official  fees 


why  not  naturalized 
preparation  for 


ever  urged  to  be 


by  whom 


4.   Place  of  residence  and  living  conditions: 


1st  period, 
2d  period, 
3d  period, 
4th  period, 
5th  period, 
At  present, 
At  present, 


City, 
Town 

or 
Camp. 


Time. 


Week.    Month. 


Num- 
ber 
Rooms. 


Fam- 
ily. 


Num- 
ber. 


Boarders. 


Men. 


Women. 


Non- 
family 
Gnour. 


Number 
and  Sex. 


Rent 

per 

Month. 


tenement        house        light         gloomy         dark  basement  no.  dark  rooms 


1914.] 

Cleanliness: 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


255 


clean 


Furnishings : 


Water  supply: 


good 


sinks 


fairly  clean 
fair 
number 


dirty 
'  'bad 
used  by  families 


filthy 


persons 


Toilets: 


in  apartment  hall 

house  owned  by  company 


yard 


number       used  by  families 


persons 


5.   Economic  conditions  and  character: 
money  in  bank  in  U.  S. 


Europe 


money  sent  home 


Europe 


property  owned 

Relief: 

ever  received  public 


U.  S.  value       insurance  amt.      indebtedness 
private  when 


How  are  Sundays  and  evenings  spent? 
Arrested : 


date                                  charge                                         outcome 
If  girl,  has  she  ever  had  illegitimate  child?     (Learn  story.) 


6.    Family.     (Fill  out  for  married  man.) .... 

Wife: 

age  place  of  birth  race 

Occupation: 

before  marriage  in  Europe 


length  of  time  in  U.  S. 
in  United  States 


present  kind       employer 
Education  in  Europe: 


hours  from 


to 


wages  per  wk. 


home  work 


illiterate 


read  only 


read  and  write 


In  United  States: 
Children:.  .  . 


attended  school    time       speak  English  now       read  and  write  English 


Age. 

Occupation. 

Wages. 

Hours. 

School. 

Time 

in 
U.S. 

Juvenile 

Sex. 

Pub- 
lic. 

Paro- 
chial. 

Grade. 

Court 
Record. 

1st   

2d 

3d 

4th 

256 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


7.    Exploitation.     (Give  as  detailed  statement  as  possible.     Secure  names  and 
dates  or  names  of  persons  who  can  help  with  information.) 

(a)  On  arrival : 

overcharge  misdelivery 

(b)  Banks: 

money  lost  through  failure  money  sent  abroad  and  never  received 

name  and  address  of  bank  date 

(c)  Employment  agent: 

fee  excessive  work  not  as  promised 

redress  attempted  secured  name  and  address  of  agency  date 

(d)  Steamship;  Notaries;  Lawyers;  Land  Agents;  Runners;  Doctors 


School  Schedules. 

MASSACHUSETTS   COMMISSION   ON   IMMIGRATION    1913. 


SCHOOL    SCHEDULE   I. 

Day  Schools. 


City  or  Town. 


School  Year  1912-1913. 


Total  number  of  different  children  by  nationality  or  country  of  birth  enrolled 
during  the  school  year  1912-1913.  (If  you  cannot  furnish  without  a  great 
deal  of  trouble,  please  indicate  whether  it  is  because  a  record  of  nation- 
alities of  day  pupils  is  not  kept,  or  if  kept,  has  not  been  tabulated.  If 
both  classifications  are  kept,  please  give  both.) 


Nationality. 

American. 

Armenian. 

Brava. 

British. 

Canadian,  French. 

Canadian,  Other. 

Finnish. 

French. 

German. 

Greek. 

Irish. 

Italian,  North. 

Italian,  South. 

Jews  (Roumanian,  Russian,  Polish). 

Lettish. 

Lithuanian. 

Polish. 

Portuguese. 

Scandinavian. 

Syrian. 

Russian. 

All  others. 


Country  of  Birth. 

United  States. 

Atlantic  Islands. 

Austria. 

Canada,  French. 

Canada,  Other. 

Finland. 

France. 

Germany. 

Greece. 

Great  Britain. 

Hungary. 

Ireland. 

Italy,  North. 

Italy,  South. 

Norway,  Sweden'and  Denmark. 

Portugal. 

Russia. 

Turkey. 

All  others. 


Total Total 


1914]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  257 

2.  For  individual  schools  in  which  the  enrollment  is  50%  or  more  foreign  born 

give  the  enrollment  by  nationality  or  country  of  birth  of  each  school.     (Please 
use  the  same  order  and  classification  as  in  1.) 
School 

1.  Total  enrollment 

2.  Enrollment  by  nationality  or  country  of  birth 

3.  Is  there  an  adult  room  or  rooms? If  so,  give  number 

subjects  taught 


and  enrollment  by  nationality  or  country  of  birth: 


Are  there  any  special  classes  for  immigrant  children  who  are  prepared  for 

advance  grades  but  do  not  know  English? Number 

Describe: 


Is  there  any  special  adaptation  of  course  or  method  in  schools  or  rooms  where 
the  per  cent  of  foreign  born  is  over  50%? Describe  in  full: 


6.    Describe  any  special  work  you  are  doing  for  the  immigrant  children,  particularly 
those  of  non-English  speaking  parentage: 


Any  special  work  with  their  parents: 


7.    Remarks: 


Signed 

Superintendent. 


Poet  office  address. 


258 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


MASSACHUSETTS    COMMISSION    ON    IMMIGRATION    1913. 

SCHOOL   SCHEDULE    II. 

Night  Schools. 

City  or  Town School  Year  1912-1913. 

1.  Schools  in  which  evening  classes  were  held  during  the  school  year  1912-1913: 

Name  of  School. 

Number  of  Classes. 

Subjects  taught  with  Number  enrolled  in  Each. 

2.  Total  number  of  different  people  enrolled  by  nationality  or    country   of   birth 

(If  both  classifications  are  kept,  please  give  both.) 


Nationality.     Male.     Female. 
American. 
Armenian. 
Brava. 
British. 

Canadian,  French. 
Canadian,  Other. 
Finnish. 
French. 
German. 
Greek. 
Irish. 

Italian,  North. 
Italian,  South. 

Jews  (Roumanian,  Russian,  Polish). 
Lettish. 
Lithuanian. 
Polish. 
Portuguese. 
Scandinavian. 
Syrian. 
Russian. 
All  others. 


Country  of  Birth.    Male.    Female. 

United  States. 

Atlantic  Islands. 

Austria. 

Canada,  French. 

Canada,  Other. 

Finland. 

France. 

Germany. 

Greece. 

Great  Britain. 

Hungary. 

Ireland. 

Italy,  North.  . 

Italy,  South. 

Norway,  Sweden  and  Denmark. 

Portugal. 

Russia. 

Turkey. 

All  Others. 


Total Total 

3.   Average  attendance:  Male. 


Female. 


4.    Illiterates:  Number  under  21  years  of  age  attending  night  school: 

Nationality.     Male.    Female.    Country  of  Birth.     Male.     Female. 


Total Total 

What  difficulty  have  you  in  enforcing  the  law  in  regard  to  this  group? , 


Have  employers  co-operated? 

Has  any  employer  in  your  city  ever  been  fined  for  employing  an  illiterate  person, 

who  was  not  in  attendance  at  night  school?   

If  so,  give  date Name  of  employer 

Remarks : 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  259 

5.  Teachers:  Total  number  of  teachers Men Women 

What  salary  is  paid  night  school  teachers? 

How  many  are  graduates  of  normal  schools? of  colleges? 

How  many  teach  in  the  day  time? Attend  college? 

Is  it  the  policy  to  secure  teachers  who  are  themselves  foreign  born? 

Are  they  successful  in  increasing  enrollment? 

As  teachers? 

Is  the  teaching  in  the  night  schools  equal  or  inferior  to  that  in  the  day  schools? 

6.  What  text  books  are  used  in  elementary  classes  in  English  and  Civics?     (Give 

name  of  book,  author,  and  publisher.) 


Which  of  these  are  satisfactory?     Unsatisfactory?     (Answer  in  full.) 


7.    When  does  the  night  school  term  begin? End? , 

Number  of  evenings  a  week 

Average  number  of  evenings  taught 


8.    Has  a  summer  school  ever  been  tried  and  with  what  success? 


Have  Sunday  classes  or  lectures  ever  been  tried  and  with  what  success? 


Are  seats  used  intended  for  adults  or  children? 

Are  adult  pupils  addressed  by  first  name? Reason:. 


9.  Is  there  any  rule  as  to  how  many  must  be  enrolled  to  open  or  continue  a  school 

for  night  work?     (Give  number.) 

Is  there  a  required  enrollment  for  beginning  or  continuing  a  class?     (Give  num- 
ber.)   

10.  How  are  night  schools  advertised?     (Enclose  copies  of  any  printed  announce- 

ments.)   


Have  employers  been  asked  to  co-operate? With  what   success? 


Have  the  churches  been  asked  to  oo-operate? With  what  success? 


260  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

11.  Is  there  any  nationality  or  neighborhood  in  your  community  that  you  feel  you 
have  not  reached?  (Give  nationalities  and  neighborhoods  and  your  ex- 
planation of  the  fact.) 


12.   Naturalization:  What  classes  preparing  for  naturalization  are  offered? 


Is  advising  students  as  to  how  and  when  they  can  become  naturalized  a  part 
of  the  night  school  program? 


13.   What  lectures  intended  for  the  foreign  born  were  delivered  in  your  schools 

last  year? 

Number Subjects 

How  many  in  the  English  language?.  .  .  .How  many  in  foreign  language? 

What  languages? 


14.    Have  the  employers  of  immigrant  laborers  in  your  community  used  their 
influence  to  increase  the  number  and  efficiency  of  the  night  schools? 

Or  have  they  opposed  the  development  of  the  night  school  work? 

Openly? Indirectly? 

What  explanation  can  you  offer? 


15.    Is  there  any  social  life  in  connection  with  the  night  schools?  Describe: 


16.    Describe  any  other  work  you  are  doing  for  the  adult  immigrant  or  the  immi- 
grant child  who  has  gone  to  work: 


17.   Describe  any  changes  in  organization,  classes,  teachers,  textbooks,  or  general 
policy  you  are  considering  for  the  night  schools  in  your  city: 


18.    Have  you  any  suggestions  as  to  an  educational  program  for  the  adult  immigrant 
or  the  immigrant  child  who  goes  to  work  upon  arrival? 


Signed 

Superintendent. 


Post  office  address. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  261 


MASSACHUSETTS   COMMISSION   ON   IMMIGRATION    1913. 
SCHOOL   SCHEDULE   III. 

City  or  Town School  Year  1912-1913. 

1.    Has  there  ever  been  a  public  night  school  in  the  town? 

When? 

Why  was  it  discontinued? 


2.    Do  you  feel  that  one  is  needed? 


3.    Has  the  proposition  ever  been  before  your  board? 

Did  any  special  group  in  the  community,  such  as  employers  of  immigrants, 
churches,  leaders  of  the  immigrant  groups,  or  women's  clubs,  etc.,  suggest 
or  actively  support  it? 

Did  any  special  group  or  persons  in  the  community  oppose  it? 


Reason? 

Why  do  you  think  the  proposition  failed  to  pass?. 


4.   Do  you  know  of  any  private  night  schools  in  the  town? , 
By  whom  conducted? 


Signed 

Superintendent. 


Post  office  address. 


262 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


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IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Table  II.  —  Number  of  Emigrants  departed  whose  State  of  Last  Perma- 
nent Residence  was  Massachusetts,  Fiscal  Years  1908  to  1913,  by  Races 
or  Peoples.1 


Races  or  Peoples. 

1908. 

1909. 

1910. 

1911. 

1912. 

1913. 

Total. 

African  (black),        .... 

240 

262 

241 

205 

236 

372 

1,556 

Armenian,                  . 

39 

149 

160 

278 

164 

146 

936 

Bohemian  and  Moravian, 

3 

5 

2 

1 

8 

6 

25 

Bulgarian,    Servian   and   Montene- 

43 

27 

52 

70 

48 

65 

305 

grin. 

18 

67 

43 

79 

133 

79 

419 

Croatian  and  Slovenian,  . 

145 

114 

101 

107 

27 

32 

526 

Cuban,      .... 

3 

11 

6 

12 

17 

8 

57 

Dalmatian,    Bosnian    and    Herze- 

3 

12 

4 

6 

1 

3 

29 

govinian. 

Dutch  and  Flemish, 

55 

53 

36 

82 

72 

61 

359 

East  Indian, 

1 

1 

3 

1 

2 

6 

14 

English,     . 

507 

605 

382 

560 

790 

678 

3,522 

Finnish, 

422 

104 

107 

167 

300 

380 

1,480 

French, 

107 

118 

175 

187 

219 

221 

1,027 

German, 

m 

179 

161 

212 

185 

174 

150 

1,061 

Greek, 

899 

785 

1,374 

1,199 

1,267 

3,296 

8,820 

Hebrew, 

221 

179 

165 

151 

142 

128 

986 

Irish, 

334 

270 

335 

337 

383 

367 

2,026 

Italian,  North, 

560 

718 

606 

707 

808 

596 

3,995 

Italian,  South, 

6,698 

5,432 

3,535 

4,456 

4,766 

5,232 

30,119 

Japanese,  . 

13 

12 

14 

14 

11 

9 

73 

Lithuanian, 

419 

284 

285 

410 

602 

528 

2,528 

Magyar,     . 

138 

138 

41 

36 

23 

32 

408 

Mexican,    . 

3 

3 

11 

6 

4 

3 

30 

Polish, 

2,659 

1,585 

1,590 

2,181 

2,502 

1,931 

12,448 

Portuguese, 

558 

443 

540 

799 

1,019 

943 

4,302 

Roumanian, 

21 

5 

7 

25 

10 

11 

79 

Russian, 

263 

189 

308 

369 

385 

459 

1,973 

Ruthenian  (Russniak), 

18 

15 

13 

49 

48 

26 

169 

Scandinavian,  . 

340 

171 

160 

285 

421 

223 

1,600 

Scotch, 

178 

144 

141 

250 

229 

240 

1,182 

Slovak, 

148 

64 

93 

115 

44 

41 

505 

Spanish,    .         . 

17 

21 

22 

16 

40 

41 

157 

Spanish-American,  . 

5 

6 

6 

14 

15 

9 

55 

Syrian, 

232 

211 

172 

156 

114 

137 

1,022 

Turkish,    . 

125 

95 

162 

294 

286 

485 

1,447 

Welsh, 

11 

11 

2 

12 

3 

5 

44 

West  Indian  (except  Cuban), 

12 

16 

26 

23 

45 

46 

168 

Other  peoples 

29 

49 

40 

45 

48 

75 

286 

Total, 

• 

15,666 

12,535 

11,172 

13,889 

15,406 

17,070 

85,738 

1  Compiled  from  Annual  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  1908-1913. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


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1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


267 


Table  IV.  —  Number  of  Immigrant  Aliens  arrived  at  the  Ports  of  Boston 
and  Charlestown,  Mass.,  1856-1913. l 


Years. 

Immigrant 

Aliens. 

Years. 

Immigrant 

Aliens. 

1856,     

14,353 

1885,     

25,660 

1857, 

13,331 

1886,     . 

25,046 

1858, 

5,086 

1887, 

36,209 

1859, 

8,498 

1888, 

44,873 

1860, 

8,807 

1889, 

35.19S 

1861, 

4,365 

1890, 

29,813 

1862, 

2,350 

1891, 

30,951 

1863, 

7,217 

1892, 

32,343 

1864, 

6,347 

1893, 

29,583 

1865, 

10,007 

1894, 

17,558 

1866,2 

4,534 

1895, 

20,472 

1867, 

11,483 

1896, 

21,846 

1868, 

12,529 

1897, 

13,333 

1869, 

23,294 

1898, 

12,271 

1870, 

33,028 

1899, 

19,227 

1871, 

27,024 

1900, 

15,751 

1872, 

26,909 

1901, 

25,616 

1873, 

31,676 

1902, 

39,465 

1874, 

24,225 

1903, 

62,838 

1875, 

17,645 

1904, 

60,278 

1876, 

9,711 

1905, 

65,107 

1877, 

7,887 

1906, 

62,229 

1878, 

8,756 

1907, 

70,164 

1879, 

10,364 

1908, 

41,363 

1880, 

34,062 

1909, 

36,318 

1881, 

41,018 

1910, 

53. 

1882, 

58,816 

1911, 

4.->,  865 

1883, 

48.18S 

1912, 

38,7 

1884, 

35,036 

1  1913, 

54.710 

1  Compiled  from  "  Im migration  into  the  United  States  from  1820  to  1903,"  U.  B.  Bureau  of 
Statistics,  Monthly  Summary  of  Commerce  and  Finance,  June  1903,  p.  4363,  and  Annuil  Report 
of  the  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  1903-1913. 

2  The  years  in  the  table  from  1856-1865,  included,  are  those  ending  Doee  n'oer  31 ;  1913, 
those  ending  June  30. 


Appendix  D. 


NUMBER  OF  IMMIGRANTS  DESTINED  TO  MASSACHUSETTS 

FROM   1890  TO   1913. * 


...  ,    .    J     , 

I 

j_: 

y 

1 

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1 

p— I 

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1  Based  on  Annual  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  1890-1913. 


1914.1 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


269 


Appendix  E. 


OCCUPATIONS   OF  FOREIGN-BORN  PERSONS  IN 
MASSACHUSETTS. 

Table  I.  —  Total  Number  of  Persons  and  Number  and  Per  Cent  of  Foreign- 
born  Persons  engaged  in  Gainful  Occupations  in  Massachusetts  in  Each 
Class  of  Occupation,  1870-1900.1 


Total 

Foreign-born 

Per  Cent  of 

Persons. 

Persons. 

Foreign-born. 

Agriculture:  — 

1870,    

72,810 

11.196 

15.4 

1880 

64,973 

10,883 

16.8 

1890,2  

80,440 

24,980 

31.1 

1900,    

66,551 

20,224 

30.4 

Professional  and  personal  service:  — 

1870 

131,291 

68,899 

52.5 

1880,    

170,160 

77,000 

45.3 

1890,    

220,737 

118,372 

53.6 

1900 

291,606 

144,048 

49.4 

Trade  and  transportation:  — 

1870,    

83,078 

14,432 

17.4 

1880 

115,376 

22,513 

19.5 

1890 

195,013 

46,662 

23.9 

1900,    

283,474 

74,172 

26.2 

Manufacturing  and  mechanical  industries:  — 

1870 

292,665 

95,625 

32.7 

1880,    

370,265 

132,010 

35.7 

1890,    

474,065 

193,616 

40.8 

1900 

566,776 

254,161 

44.8 

All  occupations:  — 

1870,    

579,844 

190,152 

32.8 

1880,    

720,774 

242,406 

33.6 

1890,    

970,255 

383,630 

39.5 

1900,    

1,208,407 

492,605 

40. S 

»  Compiled  from  U.  S.  Ninth  Census  (1870),  Vol.  I,  Population,  p.  739,  Table  XXX;  Tenth 
Census  (1880),  Population,  p.  828,  Table  34;  Eleventh  Census  (1890),  Population,  pp.  342-347, 
Table  80;  pp.  472-483,  Table  108;  Twelfth  Census  (1900),  Special  Report  on  Occupations,  pp.  156- 
165,  Table  34. 

*  In  1890  fisheries  and  mining  were  classi6ed  with  agriculture. 


270 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Table  II.  —  Percentage  of  Total  Persons  and  of  Foreign-born  Persons 
engaged  in  Gainful  Occupations  in  Massachusetts  in  Each  Class  of 
Occupation,  1870-1900. 


Per  Cent  of 
Total  Persons 
in  Each  Class 
of  Occupation. 


Per  Cent  of 

Foreign-born 

Persons  in 

Each  Class 

of  Occupation. 


Agriculture:  — 

1870,   

18S0,   

1800 

1900 

Professional  and  personal  service:  — 

1870,   

1880 

1890 

1900,   

Trade  and  transportation:  — 

1870,   

1880 

1890 

1900,   

Manufacturing  and  mechanical  industries: 

1870,   

1880,   

1890 

1900 


5.9 
4.5 
6.5 
4.1 


36.2 
31.8 
30.8 
29.2 


7.6 

9.3 

12.2 

15.1 


50.3 
54.4 
50.5 
51.6 


Table  III.  —  Total  Number  of  Persons  and  Number  and  Per  Cent  of 
Foreign-born  Persons  in  Each  Class  of  Occupation  in  Massachusetts, 
1905.1 


Total 
Persons. 


Foreign-born 
Persons. 


Per  Cent  of 
Foreign-born. 


Agricultural  pursuits,       .         .         .         . 
Professional  service,  .         .         .         . 

Domestic  and  personal  service, 
Trade  and  transportation, 
Manufacturing  and  mechanical  pursuits, 

Apprentices, 

Not  gainful, 

All  occupations, 


69,643 

69,309 

229,713 

332,625 

622,481 

8,496 

1,671,413 

3,003,680 


23,626 
11,044 

133,329 
90,001 

289,600 
1,920 

368,524 

918,044 


33.9 
15  8 
58.0 
27.1 
46.5 
22.6 
22.0 
30.6 


1  Compiled  from  Massachusetts  State  Census,  1905,  Vol.  II,  p.  9  ff. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


271 


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272 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Appendix  F. 


NATIONALITY    AND    OCCUPATION    OF    OPERATIVES    IN    A 
TYPICAL  COTTON  MILL  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 

Table  I.  —  Nationality  and  Occupation  of  Operatives  in  a  Typical  Cotton 
Mill  in  .Massachusetts,  January  1,  1914,  with  Number  employed  and 
Number  leaving  between  January  1,  1918,  and  January  1,  1914- 


Department. 

a 

Nationality. 

Ph 

T3 
E 

0 

M 

a 

'3 
a 

"S. 

GO 

a 

i 

E 

Q 

hi 

a 
1 

hi 

a 

*> 

1 

hi 
a 

13 

2 
g 

03 

M 

is  m 

bi 

#d 
"S 
>> 

Q 

•6 

c 

E 

"a 

a 

Q 

"5 
*-> 

o 

American,    . 

18 

171 

37 

32 

67 

10 

70 

3 

10 

25 

443 

Armenian,  . 

10 

72 

- 

3 

7 

5 

8 

4f) 

- 

- 

145 

Canadian,    . 

3 

29 

7 

4 

31 

2 

5 

- 

1 

12 

94 

Cuban, 

- 

2 

2 

English, 

7 

9 

3 

7 

13 

- 

11 

1 

1 

11 

63 

French, 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

1 

- 

- 

- 

1 

German, 

1 

2 

- 

2 

11 

- 

12 

- 

- 

2 

30 

Greek, 

8 

1 

- 

- 

1 

- 

- 

1 

- 

- 

11 

Hebrew, 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

6 

- 

- 

- 

6 

Irish,  . 

14 

9 

4 

9 

30 

- 

1 

4 

3 

16 

90 

Italian, 

33 

56 

1 

3 

- 

1 

8 

- 

13 

8 

123 

Lithuanian, 

25 

41 

6 

- 

323 

13 

2 

9 

- 

1 

420 

Magyar, 

- 

1 

1 

Polish, 

100 

67 

2 

- 

202 

11 

3 

9 

10 

2 

406 

Portuguese, 

24 

41 

65 

Russian, 

4 

16 

- 

- 

6 

- 

2 

- 

- 

- 

28 

Ruthenian, 

1 

1 

2 

Scotch, 

2 

3 

7 

7 

22 

1 

3 

3 

- 

1 

49 

Syrian, 

41 

5 

- 

- 

8 

- 

- 

7 

- 

- 

61 

Turkish,      . 

1 

3 

1 

- 

- 

- 

2 

1 

- 

- 

8 

Welsh, 

. 

1 

1 

Total,    . 

292 

530 

68 

67 

721 

43 

134 

78 

38 

78 

2,049 

Number  employed  be 
tween  January  1 
1913  and  January  1 
1914. 

Number  leaving  be 
tween  January  1 
1913  and  January  1 
1914. 

-  406 

-  394 
f 

544 
562 

18 
16 

56 
45 

685 
655 

96 
89 

151 
155 

73 
65 

37 
40 

148 
135 

2,214 
2,156 

1914.1 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


273 


Appendix  G. 


RURAL    POPULATION    OF    MASSACHUSETTS    BY    GENERAL 

NATIVITY,  1890-1910. 


1890. 

1900. 

1910. 

Number:  — 

235,093 

238,248 

241,049 

Native  white  of  native  parentage,     .... 

161,953 

152,148 

141,191 

Native  white  of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage,    . 

36,561 

44,916 

54,120 

Foreign-born  white,            ...... 

34,537 

38,600 

42,469 

Per  cent  of  total  population:  — 

Total  rural  population 

10.5 

8.5 

7.2 

Native  white  of  native  parentage,     .... 

17.0 

14.7 

12.8 

Native  white  of  foreign  parentage,    .... 

6.0 

5.0 

4.6 

Foreign-born  white, 

5.3 

4.6 

4.0 

Compiled  from  U.  S.  Thirteenth  Census  (1910),  Vol.  II,  Population,  p.  865,  Table  1. 


274 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Appendix  H. 


NATIVITY    OF    PERSONS    COMMITTED  TO    THE   STATE 
TRAINING   SCHOOLS  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 

Table  I.  —  Nativity  of  Boys  and  Girls  committed  to  the  State  Training 
Schools  of  Massachusetts  during  the  Year  ended  November  80,  1912. ,1 


Lyman 
School. 

Shirley. 

Lan- 
caster. 

Total. 

Per 

Cent  of 

Known 

Nativity . 

Total  native-born 

190 

152 

94 

436 

87.9 

Total  foreign-born, 

24 

24 

12 

60 

12.1 

Atlantic  Islands, 

- 

1 

- 

- 

Canada,     . 

- 

8 

7 

- 

- 

England,   . 

- 

3 

1 

- 

- 

Germany, 

- 

- 

1 

- 

- 

Greece, 

- 

1 

- 

- 

- 

Ireland, 

- 

- 

1 

- 

- 

Italy, 

- 

5 

- 

- 

- 

Russia, 

- 

6 

2 

- 

- 

Nativity  unknown, 

1 

1 

- 

2 

- 

Total  committed, 

215 

177 

106 

498 

- 

Table  II.  —  General  Nativity  of  Parents  of  Boys  and  Girls  committed  to 
the  State  Training  Schools  of  Massachusetts  during  the  Year  ended 
November  80,  1912. l 


Lyman 
School. 

Shirley. 

Lan- 
caster. 

Total. 

Per 
Cent  of 
Known 
Parent- 
age. 

Both  parents  native-born,  .... 
Both  parents  foreign-born, 
One  parent  native  and  one  foreign-born,    . 
Birthplace  of  one  or  both  parents  unknown, 

37 
94 
30 
54 

37 
87 
29 
24 

37 
35 

26 
8 

Ill 

216 

85 

86 

27.0 
52.4 
20.6 

Total  committed,           .... 

215 

177 

106 

498 

- 

1  Compiled  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Training  Schools,  1912,  pp.  41,  65,  107. 


1914. 


HOUSE  — Xo.  2300. 


275 


Appendix  I. 


LITERACY  OF  PRISONERS  COMMITTED  TO  PENAL  INSTI- 
TUTIONS IN  MASSACHUSETTS  DURING  THE  YEAR  ENDED 
NOVEMBER  30,    1912. 

Table  I.  —  Literacy  of  Prisoners  committed  to  Penal  Institutions  in  the 
State  of  Massachusetts  during  the  Year  ended  November  30,  1912, 
together  with  the  Percentage  of  Literacy  of  the  Total  Population  of 
Massachusetts,  Ten  Years  of  Age  or  Over,  1910} 


Prisoners. 

Total 
Population. 

Number.              Per  Cent. 

Percentage 
of  Literary. 

Able  to  read  and  write, 

Illiterate, 

24,207 
3,240 

88.2 
11.8 

94.8 
5.2 

Total, 

27,417  2 

100.0 

100.0 

1  Annual  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Prison  Commissioners,  1912,  p.  89,  and  U.  S. 
Thirteenth  Census  (1910),  Vol.  I,  Population,  p.  1198,  Table  19. 

2  In  7  cases  the  literacy  of  prisoners  committed  was  not  given. 


276 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Appendix  J. 


NATIVITY  OF  INSANE  PERSONS  IN  INSTITUTIONS  IN 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Table  I.  —  Number  and  Per  Cent  of  Native  and  Foreign  Born  Insane 
Persons  admitted  to  Institutions  in  Massachusetts  for  the  Year  ended 
November  30,  1912,  together  with  Per  Cent  of  Total  Native  and  Foreign 
Born  White  Population  Fifteen  Years  of  Age  and  Over  of  Massachu- 
setts, 1910.1 


Number. 


Native-born,     . 
Foreign-born,    . 
Nativity  unknown, 
Total, 


1,464 

1,169 

27 


2,660 


Insane. 


Per  Cent 
of  Known 
Nativitv. 


55.6 
44.4 


Per  Cent 

White 

Population 

Fifteen  Years 

and  Over. 


59.1 
40.9 


1  Compiled  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Insanity,  1912,  p.  278, 
Table  16,  and  from  the  U.  S.  Thirteenth  Census  (1910),  Vol.  I,  Population,  p.  380,  Table  43.  The 
percentage  for  comparison  is  based  on  the  population  fifteen  years  of  age  and  over,  as  a  child  under 
the  age  of  fifteen  rarely  becomes  insane.  The  white  population  is  used  instead  of  the  total  popula- 
tion, as  the  census  does  not  give  the  total  native  and  foreign  born  population  by  age  groups. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  — No.  2300. 


277 


Table  II.  —  Nativity  of  Foreign-born  Insane  Persons  admitted  to  Institu- 
tions in  Massachusetts  for  the  Year  ended  November  30,  1912,  together 
with  the  Percentage  of  Nativity  of  the  Foreign-born  Population  of 
Massachusetts,  1910.1 


Country  of  Birth. 


Austria, 

Canada, 

England,  Scotland  and  Wales, 

Finland, 

France, 

Germany,  .... 

Greece 

Ireland, 

Italy, 

Norway,  Sweden  and  Denmark, 

Portugal 

Russia, 

Turkey, 

Other  countries, 

Total 


Foreign-born  Insane. 


Number. 


26 

272 

US 

20 

5 

35 

14 

371 

54 

54 

6 

109 

21 

64 


1,169 


Per  Cent. 


2.2 

23.3 

10.1 

1.7 

.4 

3.0 

1.2 

31.7 

4.6 

4.6 

.5 

9.3 

1.8 

5.6 


100.0 


Foreign-born 

Population, 

1910. 

Per  Cent 

born  in  Each 

Country. 


3.5 

28.1 

11.6 

1.0 

.6 

2.9 

1.1 

21.0 

8.0 

4.6 

2.5 

11.1 

15 

2.5 


100.0 


1  Compiled  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Insanity,  1912,  p.  278, 
Table  16,  and  U.  S.  Thirteenth  Census  (1910),  Vol.  II,  Population,  p.  865,  Table  5. 


278 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Appendix  K. 


NATIVITY  OF  INMATES  OF  CERTAIN  STATE  INSTITUTIONS 
OTHER  THAN  PENAL  AND  INSANE. 

Table  I.  —  Nativity  of  Inmates  of  the  State  Infirmary  at  Tewksbury,  1912. l 


Per  Cent  of 

Known 
Nativity. 


Total  native-born, 

Total  foreign-born  from  English-speaking  countries, 

Canada, 

England,  Scotland  and  Wales, 

Ireland, 

Total  foreign-born  from  non-English  speaking  countries, 

Atlantic  Islands, . 

Austria, 

Finland, 

France, 

Germany, 

Greece 

Italy 

Poland  (unspecified),       .  .         . 

Portugal, 

Russia, 

Sweden,  Norway  and  Denmark, 

Turkey 

Other  countries, 

Birthplace  unknown, 

Total 


38.6 
45.5 


15.9 


1  Compiled  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  State  Infirmary  ut  Tewksbury,  1912,  pp.  31,  32. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


279 


Table  II.  —  Nativity  of  Epileptics  admitted  for  the  First  Time  to  Any 
Hospital  to  the  Monson  State  Hospital  during  the  Year  ended  November 
80,  1912} 


Per  Cent 
Number.            Native  and 
I   Foreign  Born. 

Total  native-born, 
Total  foreign-born, 

Canada,    . 

England,  . 

Ireland,     . 

Italy, 

Newfoundland, 

Russia, 

South  America, 

Sweden,    . 

135 
40 
15 
5 
7 
5 
2 
3 
1 
2 

77.1 
22.9 

Total,     . 

175 

100.0 

Table  III. — Nativity  of  Inebriates  committed  for  the  First  Time  to  the 
Foxborough  State  Hospital,  for  the   Year  ended  November  30,  1912.2 


Number. 

Per  Cent 

Native  and 

Foreign  Born. 

Total  native-born, 

472 

84  0 

Total  foreign-born, 

90 

16  0 

Canada,    . 

26 

- 

England  and  Scotland, 

18 

- 

Ireland,     . 

40 

- 

Germany, 

1 

- 

Portugal,  . 

1 

- 

Sweden,    . 

1 

- 

Russia, 

3 

- 

Total,     . 

562 

100.0 

1  Compiled  from 

the  .4 

nntu 

il  Re 

port  o 

/the 

Mons 

on  St' 

Ue  Hospital,  1912 

p.  41. 

2  From  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Foxborough  State  Hospital,  1912,  p.  40. 


280 


IMMIGRATION. 


[Mar. 


Table  IV.  —  Nativity  of  Inmates  of  Massachusetts  School  for  the  Feeble- 
minded at  Waverley,  October  80,  1913.1 


Number. 

Per  Cent 
of  Known 
Nativity. 

Total  native-born, 
Total  foreign-born, 

Austria,     . 

Canada,    . 

England  and  Scotland, 

Ireland,     .... 

Italy, 

Norway  and  Sweden, 

Russia, 

All  others, 
Nativity  unknown, 

1,406 

136 

2 

51 

21 

10 

10 

11 

25 

6 

74 

91.2 

8.8 

Total  inmates,  -     . 

1,616 

- 

1  Information  furnished  by  the  superintendent  of  the  Massachusetts  School  for  the  Feeble- 
minded at  Waverley. 

2  The  superintendent  states  that  of  the  74  whose  birthplaces  are  not  given,  the  majority  are 
probably  foreign-born. 


1914.] 


HOUSE  —  No.  2300. 


281 


Table  V. — Nativity  of  Parents  of  Inmates  of  the  Wrentham  State  School 
(for  the  Feeble-minded),  November,  1913.1 


Both  parents  native-born, 
Both  parents  foreign-born, 
One  parent  native-born  and  one  foreign-born, 
Total, 

Nationality  of  foreign-born  parents:  — 
Austrian, 

Canadian,  French, 
Canadian,  Other, 
English  and  Scotch, 
Finnish, 
German, 
Irish, 
Italian, 
Jewish, 
Polish, 
Portuguese, 
Russian, 
Scandinavian, 
Swiss,  . 
Turkish, 
Total,     . 


Per  Cent. 


1  Information  furnished  by  the  superintendent  of  the  Wrentham  State  School. 

!  The  records  of  the  school  gave  information  as  to  the  nationality  of  the  parents  of  only  300  out 
of  the  450  children.  For  the  other  cases  the  superintendent  lias  given  the  "probable  nationalities." 
The  table,  therefore,  may  be  somewhat  inaccurate. 


282  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


Appendix  L. 


ABSTRACT  OF  MOST  IMPORTANT  PROVISIONS  OF  THE  LAWS 
REGULATING  PRIVATE  EMPLOYMENT  AGENCIES  IN 
MASSACHUSETTS,  ILLINOIS,  NEW  YORK  AND  PENNSYL- 
VANIA.1 


1.  Regulation  by  statute:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Revised  Laws,  ch.  102,  sees.  23-28. 
Illinois.  —  Revised  Statutes,  ch.  48,  sees.  67a  to  671. 
New  York.  —  Laws  of  1910,  ch.  700,  sees.  170-192. 
Pennsylvania.  —  Laws  of  1907,   No.    90,    sees.    1-16, 
and  Laws,  of  1911,  p.  881. 

2.  Licenses  granted  by:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Licensing  Board  in  Boston,  Acts   of 
1906,  ch.   291,  sec.  4.     Mayor  and  city  coun- 
cil in  most  other  cities,  Mass.  R.  L.,  ch.   102, 
sec.  24. 
Illinois.  —  By   State  Board  of  Labor  Commissioners, 

111.  R.  S.,  ch.  48,  67a. 
New  York.  —  Commissioner  of  Licenses  in  New  York 
City.  Mayor  in  cities  under  300,000,  N.  Y. 
Laws,  1910,  ch.  700,  sees.  173,  174. 
Pennsylvania.  —  Director  of  Department  of  Public 
Safety  in  cities  of  first  and  second  class, 
Penn.  Laws,  1907,  No.  90,  sec.  1. 

3.  Enforcement  of  law  in  hands  of:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Police. 

Illinois.  —  State  Inspector  of  Employment  Agen- 
cies acting  under  direction  of  State  Board 
of  Commissioners  of  Labor,  111.  R.  S.,  ch. 
48,  67/*. 

New  York.  —  Commissioner  of  Licenses  in  New 
York  City.  In  other  cities  of  New  York  by 
the  mayors,  N.  Y.  Laws,  1910,  ch.  700,  sec. 
191. 

1  For  topical  summary  of  laws  of  other  States,  see  table  opposite  p.  130  in  report  of  the  Commis- 
sion to  investigate  Employment  Agencies. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  Xo.  2300.  283 

Pennsylvania.  —  Employment  Agency  Division  of 
Department  of  Public  Safety,  Penn.  Laws  of 
1907,  No.  90,  sec.  12. 

4.  Inclusiveness  of  the  law  covers  all  kinds  of  agencies:  — 

Illinois.  —  111.  R.  S.,  ch.  48,  Q7g. 
Certain  agencies  not  covered:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  For  example,  professional  agencies, 
teaching,  theatrical  and  engineering. 

New  York.  —  Teacher's  and  other  professional  agen- 
cies excepted,  N.  Y.  Laws,  1910,  ch.  700, 
sec.  170. 

Pennsylvania.  —  Teacher's  and  other  professional  agen- 
cies excepted,  Penn.  Laws  of  1907,  No.  90, 
sec.  2. 

5.  Bond  requirements:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  None. 

Illinois.  —  Five  hundred  dollars,   111.    R.    S.,    ch.  48, 

676. 
New  York.  —  One     thousand    dollars,    N.    Y.    Laws, 

1910,  ch.  700,  sec.  177. 
Pennsylvania.  —  One  thousand   dollars,   Penn.   Laws, 
1907,  No.  90,  sec.  4. 

6.  Annual  license  fee:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Law  requires  fee  of  not  less  than 
$2,  Mass.  R.  L.,  ch.  102,  sec.  186.  (Boston, 
$25  for  second  class,  $50  for  first  class.) 

Illinois.  —  Fifty  dollars  and  $25,  111.  R.  S.,  ch.  48, 
67a. 

New  York. — Twenty-five  dollars,  N.  Y.  Laws, 
1910,  ch.  700,  sec.   177. 

Pennsylvania.  —  Fifty  dollars,  Penn.  Laws,  1907, 
No.  90,  sec.  3,  as  amended  by  Laws  of  1911, 
p.  883. 

7.  Regulation  of  fees:  — 

(1)  Detailed  regulation:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Unregulated  by  State.  Regulated 
in  Boston  by  rules  of  Licensing  Board.  (See 
page  39  of  this  report.) 

(2)  State:  — 

A  -  to  York.  —  For  lumbermen,  agricultural  hands,  un- 
skilled workers,  laborers  and  for  domestic 
help  not  to  exceed  10  per  cent  of  the  first 
month's  wages  unless  period  of  employment 


284  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

is  one  year  at  a  yearly  salary,  in  which  case 
fee  shall  not  exceed  5  per  cent  of  the  first 
year's  salary,  N.  Y.  Laws,  1910,  ch.  700, 
sec.  185. 

(3)  Publicity  the  only  regulation :  — 

Pennsylvania.  —  Fees  agency  intends  to  charge  must 
be  filed  with  the  Director  of  Public  Safety 
and  posted  in  office  where  agency  is  con- 
ducted. No  other  charges  legal.  Penn. 
Laws,  1907,  No.  90,  sec.  8,  and  Laws  of 
1911,  p.  885. 

(4)  No  regulation :  — 

Illinois.  —  Registration  fee  cannot  be  over  $2,  but 
additional  fee  can  be  agreed  upon  by  agent 
and  applicant  for  employment,  111.  R.  S., 
ch.  48,  Q7d. 

8.  Receipts  and  contracts  given  employee:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Not  prescribed  by  law. 

Illinois.  —  111.  R.  S.,  ch.  48,  67  d.1 

New   York.  —  N.  Y.  Laws,  1910,  ch.  700,  sees.  181, 

182,  187.1 
Pennsylvania.  —  Penn.  Laws,  1907,  No.  90,  sees.  8,  9. 

(1)  Name  and   address   of  agency,   employer  and 

employee. 

(2)  Contracts   if   sent   out   of   town   include:     (a) 

character  of  work;  (6)  wages;  (c)  probable 
duration  of  employment ;  (d)  amount  of 
fee;  and  (e)  terms  of  transportation;  all 
in  language  of  the  immigrant. 

(3)  Receipts  for  those  given  work  in  town,  a,  b, 

c  and  d,  as  above. 

9.  Prohibitions:  — 

Illinois.  —  111.  R.  S.,  ch.  48,  67/.1 

New   York.  —  N.  Y.  Laws,  1910,  ch.  700,  sees.    174, 

189,  190.1 
Pennsylvania.  —  Penn.  Laws,  1907,  No.  90,  sec.   10. 

(1)  Location:     not  in  saloons,  boarding  houses,  etc. 

(2)  Misleading  advertisements:    omission  of  name 

of  agency. 

(3)  Violations   of  labor  laws ;    sending  women   to 

saloons,  houses  of  prostitution  and  other 
places  of  doubtful  character. 

1  See  paragraphs  1,  2  and  3  under  Pennsylvania. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — Xo.  2300.  285 

Massachusetts.  —  Only   prohibition   is   against   send- 
ing women  to    houses   of  prostitution,  Mass. 
R.  L.,  ch.  212,  sec.  8. 
10.  Law,  or  part  of  law,  relating  to  fees,  refunds,  etc.,  posted  in 
language    which    usual  patrons  of  the  office 
can  understand:  — 
Illinois.  —  111.  R.  S.,  ch.  48,  67d. 
New  York.  —  N.  Y.  Laws,  1910,  ch.  700,  sec.  188. 
Pennsylvania.  —  Penn.  Laws,  1907,  No.  90,  sec.  8. 


286  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


Appendix  M. 


REGULATION  OF  IMMIGRANT  BANKS  IN  MASSACHUSETTS, 
NEW  JERSEY,  NEW  YORK,  OHIO  AND  PENNSYLVANIA. 


In  those  States  in  which  private  banking  is  prohibited,  immi- 
grant banks  that  receive  deposits  for  safe-keeping  would  be  in- 
cluded. Those  that  do  only  a  foreign  exchange  business  would 
probably  not  be  included,  and  special  regulation  of  these  is 
necessary  to  give  proper  protection. 

In  New  Jersey  private  banking  was  regulated  in  1895  (New 
Jersey  Public  Laws,  1895,  p.  743),  and  special  regulation  of  agents 
engaged  in  the  transmission  of  money  was  provided  for  in  the 
law  in  1907  (1907,  p.  261,  as  amended  in  1909,  81;  1910  p.  486). 
This  law  was  strengthened  by  provision  for  its  enforcement  in 
1913  (1913,  chs.  104,  105).  Ohio  began  with  the  regulation  of  the 
foreign  exchange  agents  in  1908  (Ohio  Laws,  1908,  p.  266)  and 
did  not  regulate  private  banking  until  1913.  In  New  York  (Laws 
of  1910,  ch.  348,  as  amended  in  1911,  ch.  393),  in  Pennsylvania 
(Laws  of  1911,  p.  1060)  and  in  Massachusetts  (Acts  and  Re- 
solves, 1905,  ch.  428,  as  amended  in  1906,  ch.  408;  1907,  ch. 
377;  1908,  ch.  493;  1909,  chs.  287  and  450;  1910,  ch.  338;  1911, 
ch.  358;  1912,  ch.  335;  and  1913,  chs.  178,  179,  245),  where  pri- 
vate banking  is  unregulated,  special  control  of  immigrant  banks 
has  been  attempted.  In  Illinois,  the  other  great  immigrant 
center,  no  protection  of  any  sort  is  given. 

Comparative  Abstract  of  the  Provisions  of  the  Laws  referred  to 

Above. 

1.  License:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Twenty-five  dollars  for  transmit- 
ting money;  $50  for  transmitting  and  receiv- 
ing deposits  for  safe-keeping. 

New  York.  —  Fifty  dollars  for  transmitting  money 
and  receiving  deposits. 

New  Jersey.  —  Certificate  of  authority;  $10  for 
transmission  only.  To  receive  deposits  for 
safe-keeping,  incorporation  under  the  bank- 
ing law. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  287 

Ohio.  —  Five  dollars  fee  for  filing  bond. 
Pennsylvania.  —  Fifty  dollars. 

2.  Bonds:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Amount  fixed  by  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Banking. 

New  York. — For  transmission  of  money;  surety 
company  bond  in  sum  of  $5,000.  For  re- 
ceiving deposits  for  safe-keeping;  $5,000  ad- 
ditional if  deposits  do  not  exceed  $25,000. 
Five  thousand  dollars  for  each  additional 
$25,000  not  exceeding  a  maximum  liability 
of  $50,000. 

New  Jersey.  —  Not  less  than  $20,000,  with  $5,000 
additional  for  each  branch  office. 

Ohio.  —  Five  thousand  dollars. 

Pennsylvania.  —  Amount  fixed  by  the  Board.  Not 
more  than  $50,000  nor  less  than  $10,000. 

3.  Deposits  of  money  or  securities  in  addition  to  bond:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  None. 

New    York.  —  Ten    thousand    dollars    in    money    or 

securities. 
New  Jersey.  —  None. 
Ohio.  —  None. 
Pennsylvania.  —  None. 

4.  Supervision  by  banking  official,  provided  for  in:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  By  Commissioner  of  Banks  when- 
ever inspection  is  deemed  expedient. 

New  York.  —  By  Comptroller  whenever  inspection  is 
deemed  expedient. 

New  Jersey.  —  By  Commissioner  of  Banking  and 
Insurance  whenever  inspection  is  deemed 
expedient. 

Pennsylvania.  —  At  least  semiannual  statements; 
books,  etc.,  to  be  approved  by  Commis- 
sioner of  Banking. 

5.  Transmissions:  — 

Must  be  made  in  five  days  after  receipt  for  transmission 
in    New   York,    New   Jersey,    Pennsylvania. 

In  case  of  action  for  failure  to  send  money  accepted  for 
transmission  abroad,  burden  of  proof  rests 
on  licensee  in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania. 


288  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

6.  Law  includes  in:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Steamship  ticket  or  employment 
agents  who  receive  money  for  safe-keeping 
or  for  transmission  abroad. 

New  York.  —  Individuals  or  partnerships  in  cities 
of  the  first  class  who  receive  money  for 
safe-keeping  or  for  transmission  abroad,  the 
average  of  whose  deposits  for  these  purposes 
is  less  than  $500. 

New  Jersey.  —  All  persons  or  corporations  who 
transmit  money  abroad  or  buy  or  sell  for- 
eign exchanges  (private  banking  also  regu- 
lated). 

Ohio.  —  Steamship  and  railroad  ticket  agents  selling 
transportation  to  or  from  foreign  countries 
who  receive  deposits  for  transmission.  (Pri- 
vate banking  also  regulated.) 

Pennsylvania.  —  Applies  to  (1)  all  ticket  agents; 
(2)  private  bankers  who  have  not  been 
continuously  in  business  in  the  same  locality 
for  seven  years  prior  to  the  passage  of  the 
act;  and  (3)  private  bankers  who  have  been 
in  business  continuously  in  the  same  locality 
if  they  sell  steamship  tickets. 

7.  Law  excepts  in :  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Banks,  trust  companies,  express 
companies  having  contracts  with  railroads 
or  steamship  companies  for  the  operation 
of  an  express  service  upon  the  lines  of  such 
companies,  and  persons,  partnerships,  cor- 
porations or  associations  engaged  in  the 
banking  or  brokerage  business. 

New  York.  —  State  and  national  banks;  hotel  keep- 
ers receiving  deposits  from  guests;  express 
companies  having  contracts  with  railroad 
companies  for  the  operation  of  an  express 
service  upon  the  lines  of  such  companies; 
telegraph  companies;  any  individual  or  part- 
nership coming  within  the  provisions  of  the 
law  who  files  with  the  Comptroller  a  sum  of 
$100,000. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  No.  2300.  289 

New  Jersey.  —  Authorized  private  bankers,  State  or 
national  banks,  express  or  telegraph  com- 
panies and  their  regularly  authorized  agents. 

Ohio.  —  Drafts,  money  orders  and  travellers  checks 
issued  by  trans-atlantic  steamship  companies 
or  their  duly  authorized  agents,  national 
banks,  express  companies,  State  banks  or 
trust  companies. 

Pennsylvania.  —  State  and  national  banks;  hotel 
keepers  who  receive  money  of  guests  for 
safe-keeping;  express  or  telegraph  companies, 
provided  such  company  is  not  directly  or 
indirectly  engaged  in  sale  of  steamship 
tickets;    licensed  bankers. 

8.  Penalty  for  violating  the  law:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Fine  of  not  less  than  $50  or  more 
than  $1,000;  imprisonment  not  less  than 
three  days  or  more  than  one  year,  or  both. 

New    York.  —  Misdemeanor. 

New  Jersey.  —  Misdemeanor  punishable  by  fine  of 
not  less  than  $50  nor  more  than  $1,000,  or 
imprisonment  for  not  less  than  thirty  days 
nor  more  than  one  year,  or  both. 

Ohio.  —  Five  hundred  dollars  fine  or  six  months'  im- 
prisonment, or  both. 

Pennsylvania.  —  Misdemeanor  punishable  by  fine  not 
to  exceed  $1,000  or  imprisonment  of  not 
more  than  two  years,  or  both. 

9.  Prosecution  of  offenders  against  this  law:  — 

Massachusetts.  —  Police   of   city  or    town    in    which 

violation  occurs. 
New  York.  —  None. 
Xcw  Jersey.  —  Commissioner  of  Banking  and  County 

Prosecutor  of  Pleas. 
Ohio.  —  None. 
Pennsylvania.  —  None. 


290  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 


Appendix  N. 


TRANSLATION  OF  A  CIRCULAR  ISSUED  BY  A  STEAMSHIP 
TICKET  AGENT  WHO  IS  NEITHER  AN  AUTHORIZED 
BANKER  NOR  A  NOTARY  PUBLIC. 


You  can  converse  with  us  in  Lithuanian,  Russian  and  Polish. 

RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  AGENCY 

(Near  the  Lithuanian  Church). 
Open  daily  from  8  a.m.  to  9  p.m. 

Tickets  to  Boston  and  Return,  60  cents. 

Passengers  coming  to  America  I  take  from  their  homes  and  bring 
across  the  border  without  a  foreign  passport. 

With  the  steamship  tickets  I  send  passengers  written  instructions  in 
the  Lithuanian,  Russian  or  Polish  languages,  telling  how  to  take  care 
of  themselves  on  the  journey  so  they  can  come  to  America  without  trouble. 

We  collect  money  deposited  in  other  Russian  and  American  banks. 

I  provide  those  going  to  Russia  with  a  consular  passport  so  the  border 
can  be  crossed. 

Such  consular  passports  we  procure  for  everybody,  regardless  as  to 
whether  they  are  our  passengers  or  not.  From  me  anybody  can  get  such 
a  certificate.  I  thereby  relieve  them  from  the  unnecessary  trouble  and 
inconvenience  arising  from  applying  for  a  passport  in  New  York  or  Boston. 

I  exchange  the  Russian  money  you  may  need  for  your  journey  at  the 
lowest  rates. 

If  a  number  of  passengers  are  sailing  I  accompany  them  to  New  York 
and  remain  with  them  until  the  steamer  sails. 

We  sell  steamship  tickets  to  and  from  Europe  on  all  lines  at  the  cheapest 
rates.  Our  agents  in  New  York  and  Boston  take  the  passengers  direct 
to  the  steamers  and  take  care  of  them  until  the  sailing  of  the  boat. 

We  insure  the  baggage  of  the  passenger  going  to  Russia  for  25  cents 
for  each  $150. 

We  transmit  money  to  all  parts  of  the  world  at  the  rates  given  below.  Ex- 
change money  of  all  countries. 

Make  all  sorts  of  notarial  documents,  such  as  power  of  attorney,  testaments, 
affidavits  and  all  other  legal  papers. 

All  legal  advice  free. 

Write  to  the  newcomers  not  to  exchange  their  foreign  money  on  their 
journey  nor  in  New  York,  because  we  pay  them  $1  for  two  rubles. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  291 


Appendix  O. 


LETTER  FROM  THE  VICE-PRESIDENT  OF  THE  NEW  ENGLAND 

STEAMSHIP   COMPANY. 


Office  of  the  Vice-President,  Pier  14,  North  River, 

New  York,  December  22,  1913. 

Commission  on  Immigration,  Room  440,  State  House,  Boston,  Mass. 

Gentlemen: — Replying  to  your  communication  from  your  executive 
secretary,  Miss  Grace  Abbott,  under  date  of  December  18,  1913,  we  beg 
to  submit  the  following:  — 

In  accordance  with  our  various  conferences  and  letters  with  your  com- 
mission, the  immigrant  quarters  on  the  steamer  " Providence"  have  been 
entirely  rebuilt.  The  men's  room,  which  was  formerly  in  the  center  of 
the  ship  with  crew's  wash  room  on  the  outboard  side,  has  been  relocated 
on  the  starboard  side  of  the  vessel,  outboard,  and  now  has  ventilation 
directly  outboard  and  at  the  upper  portion  to  a  fore  and  aft  passage- 
way. This  question  of  ventilation  also  applies  to  the  women's  room  on 
this  steamer.  The  toilets  in  both  men's  and  women's  rooms  have  been 
entirely  rebuilt,  and,  while  they  are  now  fitted  with  wooden  seats,  we 
have  placed  orders  and  will  install  as  soon  as  practicable  new  toilets 
with  solid  porcelain  tops.  The  crew's  wash  room  and  toilets  have  been 
removed  from  near  the  immigrant  quarters  to  the  forward  section  of  the 
main  deck,  and  do  not  communicate  in  any  way  with  the  quarters  reserved 
for  immigrants. 

The  berthing  arrangement  has  been  redesigned  and  rebuilt  with  iron 
piping  frames,  wire  springs  and  new  mattresses  installed.  The  entire 
permanent  quarters  have  been  painted  white.  Spittoons  and  rubbish 
receptacles  have  been  furnished  for  both  men  and  women's  quarters. 
Knock-down  all-metal  standee  berths  with  wire  springs  and  standard 
mattresses  have  been  installed  on  the  main  deck  adjacent  to  both  men's 
and  women's  quarters.  The  space  occupied  by  these  berths  is  so  arranged 
that  it  can  be  tightly  enclosed  with  canvas  curtains  on  heavy  freight 
battens. 

Men  and  women  immigrants  are  entirely  separate,  and  the  quarters 
are  so  arranged  that  there  is  no  necessity  of  any  of  the  immigrants  inter- 
mingling with  the  crew  in  any  way. 

The  steamer  "Plymouth"  is  now  at  the  repair  shops  of  this  company, 
having  practically  the  same  alterations  made  so  that  the  immigrant  quar- 
ters on  both  these  boats  will  be  similar  in  character.  The  "Plymouth" 
should  be  completed  in  about  two  weeks.    This  will  provide  two  steamers 


292  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

on  the  Fall  River  Line  with  improved  immigrant  quarters.  When  the 
steamer  "Plymouth"  goes  into  service  the  steamer  "Priscilla"  will  be 
withdrawn,  and  we  propose  immediately  to  take  steps  to  change  over 
the  quarters  on  this  steamer  in  a  similar  manner,  so  that  this  boat  before 
she  goes  into  commission  again  will  have  the  immigrant  quarters  rebuilt. 

The  steamer  "Chester  W.  Chapin"  is  now  in  the  repair  shops,  having 
her  immigrant  quarters  renovated,  and  we  are  building  new  toilets  and 
wash  rooms  for  men  and  women  on  the  main  deck  opposite  the  entrance 
to  immigrant  quarters,  assigning  the  men  to  the  starboard  side  of  the 
vessel  and  the  women  to  the  port.  We  propose  installing  on  the  main 
deck  of  this  vessel  knock-down  all-metal  berths  with  wire  springs  and  mat- 
tresses, so  that  the  space  occupied  by  these  quarters  can  be  enclosed 
with  canvas  on  heavy  cargo  stanchions. 

This  arrangement  will  provide  for  the  separation  of  the  men  and  women 
immigrants  and  the  crew  far  better  than  that  now  existing  on  that  steamer, 
and  will  avoid  the  necessity  of  any  intermingling  with  the  crew  in  so  far 
as  the  wash  rooms  and  toilets  are  concerned,  and  will  greatly  reduce  the 
possibility  of  any  such  intermingling.  When  the  "Chapin"  is  completed 
and  goes  into  service  we  expect  to  make  the  same  alterations  on  the 
steamer  "City  of  Lowell;"  and  when  this  steamer  is  completed  it  will 
provide  the  improved  immigrant  service  on  the  Norwich  Line. 

We  have,  in  addition  to  the  above,  made  changes  in  the  crew  assign- 
ments on  our  steamers.  It  was  formerly  the  custom  for  the  mate's  depart- 
ment to  have  charge  of  the  immigrants.  This  arrangement  we  thought 
unsatisfactory,  and  the  care  of  the  immigrants  has  been  turned  over 
entirely  to  the  steward's  department.  An  immigrant  steward  with  as- 
sistants has  been  assigned  to  the  care  of  the  immigrant  quarters,  and 
they  devote  their  entire  time  to  this  important  subject.  In  addition  to 
this  we  have  added  an  immigrant  stewardess  to  our  crew.  This  woman 
has  full  charge  of  the  women's  quarters,  and  there  is  now  no  occasion  for 
any  male  member  of  the  crew  or  officer  of  the  ship  to  have  access  to  the 
women's  immigrant  quarters. 

I  sincerely  trust  and  firmly  believe  that  all  the  above  will  result  in  a 
very  much  improved  service.  This  not  only  applies  to  the  Fall  River 
Line  and  Norwich  Line  but  to  the  Providence  Line  when  in  operation. 

We  wish  to  take  this  opportunity  to  thank  the  Massachusetts  Commis- 
sion on  Immigration,  and  to  assure  you  that  we  would  be  pleased  to  receive 
at  any  time  further  practical  suggestions  looking  towards  the  improvement 
of  conditions  on  our  steamers. 

Yours  truly, 

J.  HOWLAND  GARDNER, 

Vice-President. 


1914.]  HOUSE  — No.  2300.  293 

Appendix  P. 


LETTER  FROM  DISTRICT  COMMERCIAL  SUPERINTENDENT 
OF   THE  WESTERN   UNION   TELEGRAPH   COMPANY. 


Eastern  Division,  Boston,  Mass.,  December  13,  1913. 

Commission  on  Immigration,  Boston,  Mass. 

Gentlemen  :  —  Upon  receipt  of  your  complaint  regarding  overcharges 
made  by  the  agent  of  this  company  at  the  various  docks  on  the  boat 
arrivals  in  Boston,  this  matter  was  gone  into  very  thoroughly,  and  the 
agent,  who  has  been  employed  there  for  some  years,  has  been  removed 
from  that  position,  based  on  the  information  furnished  by  you  in  your 
report  to  this  company. 

If  it  is  decided  by  the  company  that  a  criminal  case  will  be  made  against 
him,  I  presume  there  will  be  no  objection  on  the  part  of  the  commission 
in  allowing  us  to  use  the  information  and  informants  for  the  purpose  of 
prosecuting  our  case. 

As  to  the  overcharges  you  report  made  at  the  South  Station,  Boston, 
September  10,  by  a  messenger  employed  by  this  company:  I  regret 
to  state  that  your  investigator  was  unable  to  identify  this  boy  among 
those  who  were  employed  there  on  that  date.  Probably  the  reason  for 
this  is  that  out  of  the  force  of  six  messengers  emplo3red  at  the  South 
Station  on  the  date  referred  to,  but  three  of  them  remain  in  our  service. 

In  assigning  employees  to  handle  this  class  of  work  at  the  docks,  special 
care  will  be  taken  to  pick  honest,  reliable  men,  and,  if  at  any  time  the 
commission  finds  that  the  people  we  have  assigned  there  do  not  come  up 
to  these  requirements,  I  will  consider  it  a  special  favor  if  a  prompt  report 
is  made  me,  that  we  may  protect  not  only  the  immigrants  but  ourselves  as 
well. 

Since  the  conference  on  December  2  with  your  secret  a  ry,  a  local  repre- 
sentative visited  Ellis  Island,  securing  information  as  to  the  practice  in 
handling  telegraph  business  at  that  point.  I  beg  to  submit  to  you  the 
attached  sheets  of  copies  of  forms  which  will  be  adopted  for  our  local  use 
from  those  in  use  at  that  point,  unless  you  advise  nie  at  once  that  for 
some  reason  they  are  not  satisfactory  as  far  as  the  commission  is  con- 
cerned. 

I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  these  telegrams,  as  far 
as  ordinary  occasions  allow,  are  kept  within  the  smallest  number  of 
words  possible,  and  it  will  be  our  practice  in  Bending  these  m 
outside  of  New  England  points  to  use  the  day  and  night  letter  service 
where  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  with  a  view  of  making  the  charges  to  the 
immigrant  as  low  as  possible  and  yet  secure  the  desired  results. 


294  IMMIGRATION.  [Mar. 

Our  Boston  manager  has  arranged  for  a  telegrapher  at  the  various  docks 
who  will  do  nothing  but  the  telegraphing,  and  a  second  employee,  who  will 
be  in  charge  of  the  telegraphing  at  the  docks,  will  accept  telegrams,  and, 
if  necessary,  assist  the  immigrants  in  writing  same. 

In  all  cases  duplicate  copies  of  messages,  showing  the  address,  the 
message,  signature  and  the  amount  paid,  will  be  returned  to  the  sender, 
and,  if  possible,  copies  of  telegrams  filed  by  steamship  employees  for  these 
immigrants  will  be  receipted  in  the  same  way,  and  where  possible  these 
copies  returned  to  the  individual  senders. 

Upon  receipt  of  your  complaint,  when  an  investigation  was  started 
here  on  our  own  account,  it  was  found  that  considerable  confusion  arose, 
and  an  opportunity  was  given  our  employees  to  take  advantage  of  the  fact 
that  the  value  of  foreign  money  changed  between  arrivals.  I  understand 
that  it  will  be  no  hardship  on  the  immigrants  if  we  ask  them  for  United 
States  money  instead  of  accepting  that  of  their  own  country.  This  will 
enable  us  to  at  any  time  check  up  the  receipts  with  the  telegrams,  duplicate 
copies  of  which  have  been  handed  to  the  senders,  and  leave  very  little 
opportunity  for  our  employees  to  use  this  as  a  possible  excuse  in  over- 
charging. 

It  will  be  understood,  however,  that  where  it  is  not  possible  for  the 
immigrant  to  obtain  United  States  money  we  will,  as  a  matter  of  assisting 
them,  accept  foreign  money  on  the  basis  for  which  exchange  is  being 
given  at  that  date,  —  but  only  as  a  matter  of  assisting  them  and  not  to 
be  made  a  common  practice. 

I  wish  to  assure  you  that  everything  possible  will  be  done  to  protect  the 
immigrants,  our  sendee  and  all  concerned;  and  I  will  consider  it  a  favor, 
if  at  any  time  the  commission  has  any  suggestions  to  make  regarding 
improvements  or  protective  measures  which  we  may  use  to  advantage,  if 
the  matter  be  submitted  to  me. 

I  assure  you  of  my  co-operation  in  every  way  possible. 

Very  respectfully, 

C.  F.  AMES, 
Commercial  Superintendent. 


1914.]  HOUSE  —  Xo.  2300.  295 


Appendix  Q. 


TEXT  AND  TRANSLATION  OF  POLISH  AND  ITALIAN  PAR- 
AGRAPHS WHICH  INTERPRETERS  WERE  ASKED  TO 
TRANSLATE. 

From  "  II  ProgressoItalo Americano,"  Dec.  19,  1913. 

Hoboken,  N.  J.,  18.  —  Accusati  di  furto  in  danno  di  certo  Siegfrid  Maas, 
coUettore  d'una  Casa  editrice,  i  giovani  WILLIAM  TANTONI  e  ROMEO 
RINALDI  sono  comparsi  dinanzi  al  magistrate  Tennant. 

II  giorno  12  dello  scorso  maggio  il  Maas  venne  aggredito  e  derubato  di 
$9.  Venivano  arrestati  quali  presunti  autori  del  furto,  oltre  il  Rinaldi  ed 
il  Tantoni,  certo  William  King.  Questi  confessava  il  delitto  attribuito  gli 
e  veniva  internato  nel  Rahway  Reformatory. 

II  Tantoni  ed  il  Rinaldi  essendo  riusciti  a  provare  la  loro  innocenza 
sono  stati  mandati  liberi. 

Translation. 

Hoboken,  N.  J.,  18.  —  Accused  of  robbing  to  the  detriment  of  a  certain 
Siegfrid  Maas,  collector  of  a  publishing  firm,  William  Tantoni  and  Romeo 
Rinaldi  appeared  before  Magistrate  Tennant. 

On  the  day  of  the  12th  of  last  May,  Maas  was  assaulted  and  robbed  of 
$9.  Several  supposed  authors  of  the  robbery  were  arrested,  besides 
Rinaldi  and  Tantoni,  also  William  King.  He  confessed  the  crime 
attributed  to  him  and  was  sent  to  the  Rahway  Reformatory. 

Tantoni  and  Rinaldi,  having  proved  their  innocence,  were  liberated. 

"American  Echo"  (Polish)  Toledo,  Ohio,  Dec.   13,  1913. 

Rochester,  N.  Y.  —  Aresztowano  tu  16-letniego  Franciszka  Zgodzin- 
skiego  za  kradziez  wegla  z  jard6w  kolei  New  York  Central.  Przy  roz- 
prawie  sadowej  wykrylo  sie,  iz  matka  sama  poslala  chlopca  po  wegiel. 
Uwolniono  go  od  kary,  lecz  sedzia  zagrozil  matce,  iz  ja  skarze  na  wiezienie, 
jesli  bedzie  uczyla  dziecko  kradziezy. 

Translation. 
Rochester,  N.  Y.  —  Frank  Zgodzinoki,  sixteen  years  of  age,  was  ar- 
rested for  stealing  coal  from  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  yard.  Dur- 
ing the  hearing  of  the  case  it  was  learned  that  the  boy  was  sent  by  his 
mother  to  get  coal.  The  boy  was  discharged,  but  the  judge  threatened 
to  send  his  mother  to  jail  if  she  taught  the  boy  to  steal. 


3  66      36 


ACME 

BOOKBINDING  CO.,  INC. 

JUN  28  1991 

100  CAMBRIDGE  STREET 


